| Red Delicious | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Species | Malus domestica |
| Hybrid parentage | Chance seedling |
| Cultivar | 'Red Delicious' |
| Origin | Peru, Iowa, United States |
Red Delicious is a type of apple with a red exterior and sweet taste that was first recognized in Madison County, Iowa, in 1872. Today, the name Red Delicious comprises more than 50 cultivars. It was the most produced cultivar in the United States from 1968 to 2018, when it was surpassed by Gala. [1] [2] [3]
 | This section needs expansionwith: descriptions of both the Red Delicious' physical characteristics and historic and current flavor profiles. You can help by adding to it. (November 2021) |
The 'Red Delicious' originated at an orchard in 1872 as "a round, blushed yellow fruit of surpassing sweetness". [4] [5] Stark Nurseries held a competition in 1892 [6] to find an apple to replace the 'Black Ben Davis' apple. The winner was a red and yellow striped apple sent by Jesse Hiatt, a farmer in Peru, Iowa, who called it "Hawkeye". Stark Nurseries bought the rights from Hiatt, renamed the variety "Stark Delicious", and began propagating it. Another apple tree, later named the 'Golden Delicious', was also marketed by Stark Nurseries after it was purchased from a farmer in Clay County, West Virginia, [7] in 1914; the 'Delicious' became the 'Red Delicious' as a retronym. [5]
The apple became a victim of its own popularity. As consumers began to purchase more of their food from large supermarkets, the apple's popularity encouraged commercial growers to increasingly select for longer storage and cosmetic appeal rather than flavor and palatability, which resulted in a less palatable fruit. [5] [8] [2] In particular the selection of redder fruit caused deselection of flavor, and the genes that produced the yellow stripes on the original fruit were on the same chromosomes as those for the flavor-producing compounds. [2] Breeding for uniformity and storability favored a thicker skin. [2] Later, as other cultivars entered supermarkets, demand for the 'Red Delicious' declined. [8] [9]
In the 1940s the apple was the most popular in the US. [10] In the 1980s, 'Red Delicious' represented three-quarters of the harvest in Washington state, but the selection of beauty and long storage over taste was making the apples less popular, and demand was declining as supermarkets started carrying other varieties. [10] By the 1990s, reliance on the now-unwanted 'Red Delicious' had helped to push Washington state's apple industry "to the edge" of collapse. [5] In 2000, Congress approved and President Bill Clinton signed a bill to bail out the apple industry, after apple growers had lost $760 million since 1997. [9]
Farmers began to replace their orchards with other cultivars such as Gala, Fuji, and Honeycrisp. [2] By 2000, this cultivar made up less than one half of the Washington state output, and in 2003, the crop had shrunk to 37 percent of the state's harvest, which totaled 103 million boxes. Although Red Delicious still remained the single largest variety produced in the state in 2005, others were growing in popularity, notably the Fuji and Gala varieties. [5] [10] By 2014 the Washington Apple Commission was recommending growers plan to export 60% or more of production. [10] In 2018 the Gala apple overtook US sales of the Red Delicious for the first time. [2] Through 2020 production continued to decline. [11] The COVID-19 pandemic was expected to further continue decline in demand as many cafeterias and other typical sales points for the apple were closed. [11]
Over the years many propagable mutations, or sports, have been identified in 'Red Delicious' apple trees.
In addition to those propagated without any legal protection (or cut out because they were seen as inferior), 42 sports have been patented in the United States:
| Date | Inventor | Marketed as | Mutated from | Assignee | Habit | Pattern | Earlier | Color | Plant patent number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 1934 | Henry Shotwell | Shotwell Delicious | Delicious | C&O | standard | less stripe | 2 wk. | 3-4 times | US plant patent 90 |
| May 18, 1954 | Plough | Royalred1805 | Richared | C&O | standard | blush | 10 d. | lighter | US plant patent 1278 |
| Aug 23, 1955 | Brauns | Red King1811 | Starking | Van Well | standard | stripe | 2 wk. | more complete | US plant patent 1411 |
| Feb 12, 1957 | Bisbee | Starkrimson | Starking | Stark | spur | blush | "earlier" | similar | US plant patent 1565 |
| Feb 3, 1959 | Frazier & Jenkins | Starking | Elon J. Gilbert | standard | blush | 10 d. | brighter | US plant patent 1805 | |
| Feb 17, 1959 | Hamilton | Chelan Red [12] | Hamilton | standard | blush | 2 wk. | darker | US plant patent 1811 | |
| Mar 24, 1959 | Gilbert | Redspur | Starking | C&O | spur | blush | later | brighter | US plant patent 1822 |
| Feb 23, 1960 | Hutchinson | Top Red3556 | Shotwell | C&O | standard | striped | 2-3 wk. | darker | US plant patent 1916 |
| Apr 5, 1960 | Wood | Woods, Starkspur2606 | Starking | Stark | spur | striped | 1 wk. | deeper | US plant patent 1930 |
| Sep 24, 1963 | Gould | Red Delicious | Miller&Miller | standard | blush | "early" | more intense | US plant patent 2285 | |
| Aug 11, 1964 | Gilbert Miller | Sturdyspur | Starking | Cons. Orch. Co | spur | blush | "early" | dark | US plant patent 2433 |
| Aug 25, 1964 | Frank Rypczynski | "Frank", Super Starking5569 | Starking | Stark | standard | subdued stripes | 30 d. | fuller | US plant patent 2440 |
| Mar 15, 1966 | C.L. Cooper, Washington, US | Regal Chelan Spur | Welspur | spur | stripe | 10-14d. | more intense | US plant patent 2606 | |
| June 4, 1968 | Trumbull | Oregon Spur4819 | Red King | Van Well | spur | stripe | 2 wk. | darker | US plant patent 2816 |
| Dec 23, 1969 | Herbert Diede Washington, US | Red Bouquet | Starking | Stark | standard | more intense | US plant patent 2956 | ||
| Feb 2, 1971 | Matson | Stark Earlibrite5547 | Ryan Red | Stark | standard | blush | 1 month | bright | US plant patent 3025 |
| Mar 2, 1971 | Maxam | Starking | standard | blush | deeper | US plant patent 3035 | |||
| Apr 13, 1971 | Norton | Vance | spur | 2-3 wk. | brilliant | US plant patent 3040 | |||
| Feb 19, 1974 | Coke | Rose Red | Starking | Rose | spur | blush | from start | dark | US plant patent 3485 |
| May 7, 1974 | Pagnelli | Starking | Stark | spur | blush | brighter | US plant patent 3541 | ||
| May 28, 1974 | A.M. Ward, Washington, US | Early Red One4839 | Brauns | Van Well | standard | stripe | 4 wk. | darker blackish-purple | US plant patent 3556 |
| May 28, 1974 | Flanagan | Starking | Stark | spur | stripe | before Topred | brighter, lighter | US plant patent 3557 | |
| June 11, 1974 | Slusarenko | unknown | Stark | standard | stripe | 4 d. before #2440 | red | US plant patent 3567 | |
| June 25, 1974 | Fred Campbell, Washington, US | Red Chief3578 | Starkrimson | Hilltop | spur | stripe | "earlier" | deeper, brighter | US plant patent 3578 |
| Apr 13, 1976 | A.G. Staniforth, B.C. Canada | Spured Royal Delicious | Royal Delicious | Okanogan Nursery | USPP 3864 | ||||
| May 11, 1976 | C.L. Cooper, Washington, US | Starkspur Prime Red | Topred Delicious | Stark | tree smaller than Topred Delicious | USPP 3882 | |||
| Nov. 29, 1977 | Silvers | Silverspur | Hi Early | McCormick | spur | stripe | 2 wk. before Hi Early | bright | US plant patent 4159 |
| Jan 30, 1979 | Craig | Bright 'N Early | spur | stripe | 2 wk. | darker, heavier | US plant patent 4372 | ||
| Aug 12, 1980 | Perleberg | Ace | Starkrimson or Oregon Red | spur | stripe | 18 d. | bright but deep | US plant patent 4587 | |
| Jan 19, 1982 | Garretson | Starking | Carlton | <spur / dwarf | blush | bright | US plant patent 4801 | ||
| Feb 2, 1982 | Green | Oregon Spur II6190 | Oregon Spur | Wells & Wade | spur | stripe | 10 d. | dark | US plant patent 4819 |
| Apr 20, 1982 | Evans et al. | Scarlet Spur6190 | Oregon Spur | Van Well | spur | blush | 2 wk. | red stem | US plant patent 4839 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | Coke&Smith | Super Clone4926M | Starking | McCormick, Bountiful Ridge | spur, dwarfing | stripe | no change, late bloom | light | US plant patent 4926 |
| Nov 13, 1984 | Kemp | Top Spur5334 | Starkrimson | C&O | spur | stripe | 5-7 d. | deeper, brighter | US plant patent 5334 |
| Mar 26, 1985 | Hanners | Eve's Delight | Spokane Beauty | stripe | light | US plant patent 5421 | |||
| May 21, 1985 | Jenkins | Jenred,5472 Starkspur,5472 Ultrastripe5472 | Oregon Spur | Stark | spur | stripe | 15 d. | more consistent | US plant patent 5472 |
| Sep 3, 1985 | Hare | Hared,5547 Dixiered,5547 Starkspur5547 | Oregon Spur | Stark | spur | blush | 15-20 d. | dark | US plant patent 5547 |
| Oct 8, 1985 | Gonzalez | Rico7237 | Sharp Red | Merleley & al. | standard | stripe | 20 d. | US plant patent 5569 | |
| May 31, 1988 | Sandidge | Super Chief | Red Chief | Van Well Nursery | spur | stripe | 18 d. | red stem | US plant patent 6190 |
| Mar 28, 1989 | J. E. Valle, Washington, US | Vallee Spur6702 | Red Chief | spur | blush | 2 wk. | dark red with bloom | US plant patent 6702 | |
| May 29, 1990 | Sali | Sali7237 | Redspur | semi-spur | blush | "earliest" | purple tinge | US plant patent 7237 | |
| Aug 4, 1992 | Arden Winkel, Michigan, US | Earlichief | Redchief | Inter-Plant Patent Marketing | spur | blush | 5-10 d. | brighter | US plant patent 7928 |
| Mar 23, 1999 | Deutscher | Cumberland Spur10,832 | Oregon Spur | spur | blush | 10-14 d. | complete | US plant patent 10832 | |
| May 4, 2004 | Burchinal | Adams Apple, Burchinal Red Delicious14,757 | Oregon Spur II | spur | blush | immediately | more uniform, deeper, purple, bloom | US plant patent 14757 |
| Name | Discovered / Introduced | Originated | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adams Delicious | 1954 / 1956 | Oregon, US | darker red than Delicious |
| Clawson | 1945/1952 | Washington, US | about two-thirds size of a typical Starking Delicious |
| Dieterich Delicious | 1950/1960 | California, US | skin solid red |
| Evarts Delicious | / c. 1950 | ||
| Hardibrite Red Delicious | 1970/1975 | Oregon, US | |
| 'Hi Early' | |||
| Houser Red Delicious | 1953 / 1958 | ||
| Hubbs Delicious | 1950/1950 | Oregon, US | colors earlier and darker than parent |
| Huebner Starking | 1957/1962 | British Columbia, Canada | striped |
| Maehara Starking | 1954/1955 | British Columbia, Canada | red overcolor 10 days before than of parent. |
| 'Mood2433' or 'Starking' | which colors about 2 weeks before "standard Delicious"1411 | ||
| Morgan Spur Delicious | 1957/1969 | Washington, US | |
| Morspur | 1959/ | Washington, US | |
| Nured Royal Delicious | 1966/1976 | Washington, US | |
| Parrish Delicious | 1934 / 1946 | ||
| Pittman Red Delicious | 1948 / 1956 | ||
| Red Stark | / 1927 | ||
| Redwin | 1925 / 1928 | ||
| 'Richared' | / 1926 | brighter red than standard, blush, not stripe 1278 | |
| 'Ryan' | |||
| 'Sharp Red Delicious' | 1963/1969 | Washington, US | |
| 'Spokane Beauty' | |||
| 'Wellspur' |
In 1977, the application for #4159 noted the "starchy and bland taste of some of the newer varieties".
The plant patent for #4926 promoted the sport as a dwarfing interstock, a dwarfing rootstock for pears, or to produce "crab apple"-sized 'Delicious' apples.
Golden Delicious is a cultivar of apple. It is one of the 15 most popular apple cultivars in the United States. It is not closely related to Red Delicious.
The Fuji apple is an apple cultivar developed by growers at the Tōhoku Research Station of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Fujisaki, Aomori, Japan, in the late 1930s, and brought to market in 1962. It originated as a cross between two American apple varieties—the Red Delicious and old Virginia Ralls Janet apples. According to the US Apple Association website it is one of the nine most popular apple cultivars in the United States. Its name is derived from the first part of the town where it was developed: Fujisaki.
The Braeburn is a cultivar of apple that is firm to the touch with a red/orange vertical streaky appearance on a yellow/green background. Its color intensity varies with different growing conditions.
Gravenstein is a triploid apple cultivar that originated in the 17th century or earlier. The fruit has a tart flavor, and it is heavily used as a cooking apple, especially for apple sauce and apple cider. It does not keep well, and it is available only in season. This is in part because neither cold storage, nor regular controlled atmosphere keeps the apples' distinctive aroma, although the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers' Association states that "recently however, low oxygen CA storage has shown promise in retaining this harvest-time quality".
Gala is an apple cultivar with a sweet, mild flavour, a crisp but not hard texture, and a striped or mottled orange or reddish appearance. Originating from New Zealand in the 1930s, similar to most named apples, it is clonally propagated. In 2018, it surpassed Red Delicious as the apple cultivar with the highest production in the United States, according to the US Apple Association. It was the first time in over 50 years that any cultivar was produced more than Red Delicious.
Honeycrisp is an apple cultivar developed at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station's Horticultural Research Center at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Designated in 1974 with the MN 1711 test designation, patented in 1988, and released in 1991, the Honeycrisp, once slated to be discarded, has rapidly become a prized commercial commodity, as its sweetness, firmness, and tartness make it an ideal apple for eating raw. "...The apple wasn't bred to grow, store or ship well. It was bred for taste: crisp, with balanced sweetness and acidity." It has larger cells than most apple cultivars, a trait which is correlated with juiciness, as theoretically a higher number of cells rupture when bitten, releasing more juice in the mouth. The Honeycrisp also retains its pigment well and has a relatively long shelf life when stored in cool, dry conditions. Pepin Heights Orchards delivered the first Honeycrisp apples to grocery stores in 1997. The name Honeycrisp was trademarked by the University of Minnesota, but university officials were unsure of its protection status in 2007. It is now the official state fruit of Minnesota. A large-sized honeycrisp will contain about 113 calories.
The 'Pink Pearl' apple is a pink-fleshed apple cultivar developed in 1944 by Albert Etter, a northern California breeder. It is a seedling of 'Surprise', another pink-fleshed apple that is believed to be a descendant of Malus niedzwetskyana.
Antonovka is a group of late-fall or early-winter apple cultivars with a strong acid flavor that have been popular in Russia, including during Tsarist and Soviet times, as well as in Poland and Belarus. The most popular Russian variety is the Common Antonovka, from which other cultivars are derived. It was developed by pioneer Russian naturalist and plant breeder Ivan V. Michurin at his experimental orchard in the Tambov Oblast and introduced in 1888.
Dekopon (デコポン) is a seedless and sweet variety of satsuma orange.
Cripps Pink is a cultivar of apple. It is one of several cultivars sold under the trade mark name Pink Lady. It was originally bred by John Cripps at the Western Australia Department of Agriculture, by crossing the Australian apple Lady Williams with a Golden Delicious; the result is a combination of the firm, long-storing property of Lady Williams with the sweetness and lack of storage scald of Golden Delicious.
'Ambrosia' is a cultivar of apple originating in British Columbia, Canada in the early 1990s. The original tree was first cultivated by the Mennell family of Similkameen Valley, British Columbia, who discovered it growing in their orchard.
Empire is the name of a clonally propagated cultivar of apple derived from a seed grown in 1945 by Lester C. Anderson, a Cornell University fruit nutritionist who conducted open pollination research on his various orchards. In 1945, under the direction of A. J. Heinicke, scientists from the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station of Cornell University in Geneva, New York, harvested the Empire seed together with thousands of its siblings. The Geneva teams grew and tested ever dwindling sub-populations of the sibling group until 1966, when the final selection, the Empire, was released to the public at the New York Fruit Testing Association meetings in Geneva. According to the US Apple Association website it is one of the fifteen most popular apple cultivars in the United States.
Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co. is a horticultural company based in Louisiana, Missouri, that specializes in growing and selling fruit trees to home gardeners and orchardists. The company was the original marketer of the Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apples.
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree. Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus Malus. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, Malus sieversii, is still found. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe and were introduced to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek, and European Christian tradition.
The 'York Imperial', or 'York', is a cultivar of apple from which a number of other valuable strains and cultivars have arisen, including four sport varieties: Commander York, Ramey York, Red Yorking, and Yorking.
'Crimson Gold' is a modern cultivar of applecrab, meaning that it is a cross between a crabapple and a domesticated apple. It is a small apple.
Autumn Glory is an apple cultivar developed by growers based in Washington state, US and released in 2011. The fruit is grown by Domex Superfresh Growers with a production of about 56,000 trees as of November 2014. Autumn Glory apples are described to feature a stronger and sweeter apple flavor with a hint of cinnamon. This variety is a hybrid of the Fuji (apple) and Golden Delicious apple, where the original pollination cross breed was made by Dr. Yu Lin Wang in 1976 and it is harvested in mid to late October of each year.
Cosmic Crisp is an American apple with the variety designation 'WA 38'. Breeding began in 1997 at the Washington State University (WSU) Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee, Washington, and was initially overseen by Bruce Barritt. Kate Evans completed the research after Barritt's retirement from WSU.
EverCrisp is an American apple cultivar developed by the Midwest Apple Improvement Association (MAIA). Trademarked as EverCrisp, the MAIA-1 variety is a cross between two existing apple cultivars: the Honeycrisp and Fuji. Originally produced in Ohio, EverCrisp has since expanded to apple-growing regions across the Midwest in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana, in the Northeast in Pennsylvania and New York, and in the Northwest in Washington. The apple entered the public marketplace in 2017.
The Wagener is a cultivar of the domesticated apple. It was first farmed in 1791 in New York, and is the parent of the Idared and, possibly, the Northern Spy. Despite the early popularity of the Wagener, it is no longer widely grown.
The reliance on Red Delicious helped push Washington's apple industry to the edge in the late 1990s and into this decade. Depressed prices for Red Delicious, weaker foreign markets, and stiffer competition from abroad, including apple concentrate from China, contributed to major losses in the nation's apple industry, which mounted to $700 million in 2001, according to the U.S. Apple Association. The industry has recovered somewhat since then, in part because reduced harvests have buoyed prices.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), Apples, Apples Everywhere—Favorite Recipes From America's Orchards. ISBN 0-930643-11-9. Images Unlimited Publishing. Maryville, MO.The myth-making in US horticulture that consigned Johnny Appleseed to caricature has coloured the background of the 20th century's most enduring apple.
Losses piled up. And now the bill has come due. Last month, Congress approved and President Clinton signed the biggest bailout in the history of the apple industry after the government reported that apple growers had lost $760 million in the last three years. ... In trying to create the perfect apple for major supermarket chains, these farmers say, they may have sacrificed taste to cosmetics. The growers say their story is like a fable with lessons for how the nation produces its fresh food.
