Despite a cooler growing season out west and a spot of hail here and there, it’s been a great growing season for the trees that produce SweeTango apples.

That’s the word from Tim Byrne, president of Next Big Thing, A Growers Cooperative, which produces and markets SweeTango apples.

Growers expect to harvest three times as many SweeTango apples this year than they did last year, Byrne said. That means the apples will be available in more places and in greater quantities than in 2010, he said.

“Overall, things are looking good,” Byrne said. “Out west, the crop will be later than normal crop because they had a much cooler growing season than usual. And there was some incidental hail among the co-op members, but at this point, I’d call it almost immaterial. Every growing region is in fine shape at this time.”

SweeTango is a new variety of apple developed at the University of Minnesota. The apple, which comes from the Minneiska tree, is a cross between the popular Honeycrisp and Zestar! varieties.

SweeTango started hitting shelves in limited numbers in 2009. Last year, the harvest totaled about 60,000 boxes (each box weighs 40 pounds). This year, with trees planted a few years ago maturing and newer trees coming online, the cooperative expects to hit 180,000 boxes.

Typically, growers in the Pacific Northwest would be the first to start harvesting. But a cooler-than-normal spring and summer has pushed SweeTango picking in that region from late August into the first week of September. The good news from the Pacific Northwest is that the cooler season will provide good color, firmness and a great flavor profile.

SweeTango crops should start to come in about the same time in the Midwest, Northeast and Canada. That means apple lovers across the United States and Canada should be on the lookout for SweeTango apples around the second week of September.