John Cline, Associate Professor Plant Ag, has been busy growing designer apples.  These apples consist of Crimson Crisp, Honeycrisp, and other new cultivars that were all grown at the Horticultural Experiment Station, Simcoe. Each apple has the University of Guelph Logo imprinted on to the apple.  

Wondering how they do this?

In August, when the apples were still green and actively growing, stickers were placed onto the (sun) exposed surface of the fruit. The stickers are a negative image (see below)

As fruits mature, they take on red, blue, purple and yellow colours (anthocyanin) characteristic of the cultivar. At the same time their green chlorophyll ground colour begins to disappear. Sunny autumn days and cool nights promote the formation of the red colour pigmentation. In the absence of light, the fruit skin does not colour well. This is why the regions that were black on the label appear green on the fruit surface after the label has been removed.