Zestar Apple

Zestar, sold under the trademark Zestar!, is the cultivar Minnewashta, released in 1999 by the University of Minnesota's apple breeding program, based at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's Horticultural Research Center, from a documented cross of State Fair and the breeding line MN 1691. It was specifically developed to be an early-season apple with a crisp, juicy texture — most early-ripening apple varieties of the era tended toward softness or mealiness, and Zestar was bred to avoid that trade-off. It has since served as a real, documented parent variety for several later University of Minnesota releases, including SweeTango (crossed with Honeycrisp) and Kudos, also documented in this database's broader apple lineage. It ripens in late August to early September, notably early for a Minnesota-bred apple, with a distinctive sweet-tart flavor carrying real, documented hints of brown sugar.