The Sassy™ origin story
A Diamond in the Rough
Back in the early 2000s, there were plenty of red apples around, but the tasty ones weren’t harvested until early autumn. Consumers needed their apple fix earlier, without compromising on flavour.
So New Zealand’s top apple scientists set out to create something different, something special: an early apple that was deliciously moreish, looked great on shelf, and actually had some personality.
Using classic natural breeding methods at the highest level, hundreds and thousands of apples were grown, tasted and tested over many years.
Most couldn’t hack the apple boot camp and out of more than 10,000 seedlings, 99.5% were discarded. Only a select few made it through to advanced trials, boasting the right mix of sweetness, crunch, colour and consistency.
And from the start, one apple stood out.
Sassy™ ripens early, develops its bold red colour even in warm conditions, and delivers a sweet, crisp bite that holds its quality well beyond harvest. It was designed to arrive early, shake things up, and prove that early-season apples don’t have to be dull.
After more than a decade of careful selection, Sassy™ earned its name.
Early. Red. Sweet.
And anything but boring.
The team behind Sassy™
Sassy™ comes from a long line of world-class New Zealand apple breeding.
New Zealand is recognised globally for both growing great apples and developing new varieties. The breeding work behind Sassy™ was led by the country’s crown research organisation, Bioeconomy Science Institute (formerly Plant & Food Research), which brings more than 40 years of experience in developing fruit varieties for growers and consumers around the world.
Commercialisation is managed by Prevar, which partners with growers to bring new varieties from orchard to market.
Global licensing and brand development is led by Next Generation Apples, a grower-owned collaboration between Golden Bay Fruit and Taylor Corp.
Based in two of New Zealand’s leading apple-growing regions; Nelson Tasman and Hawke’s Bay, Golden Bay Fruit and Taylor bring more than 150 years of combined growing experience. Both are family-owned, vertically integrated businesses, with a shared belief in doing things properly, from orchard to market.
While their histories run deep, their focus is firmly forward-looking. Together, they combine modern planting systems, innovation and technology with a passion for growing great apples — taking new varieties like Sassy™ from New Zealand orchards to the world.