'Golden Delicious' is a

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). 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 ancest ...

. It is one of the 15 most popular apple cultivars in the United States. It is not closely related to ' Red Delicious'.

History

Golden Delicious arose from a

chance seedling A chance seedling is a plant that is the product of unintentional breeding. Identifying the parent plants of a chance seedling may be difficult. It may be necessary to genetically analyse the seedling and surrounding plants to be sure. Plants tha ...

, possibly a hybrid of ' Grimes Golden' and ' Golden Reinette'. The original tree was found on the Mullins' family farm in Clay County, West Virginia, United States, and was locally known as Mullin's Yellow Seedling and Annit apple. In Clay County, George Deems was instrumental in preserving and perpetuating the original Stark's Golden delicious apple tree on A. H. Mullins property back in 1938. The famed tree came to the attention of the Stark Brothers a number of years before, when Mr. Mullins sent three apples to Mr. Stark one fine April. The Golden Delicious' long keeping qualities were soon abundantly evident to Mr. Stark, as well as to United States Pomologist Colonel Brackett, in Washington, and the nursery bought the tree and ground on which it stands from Mr. Mullins for the -then-golden sum of $5,000.00, after verifying that the tree was the producer of the long sought perfect yellow apple. George Deems visited the famed tree shortly after he became extension agent and personally pruned the valuable tree while a DPW, That's Department of Public Works, to predepression kids- project renovated and restored the protective woven wire cage that guarded the tree against clandestine pruners who would have otherwise whittled it down, graft by graft Mullins sold the tree and propagation rights to

Stark Brothers Nurseries 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 commercial orchardists. The company was the original marketer of the Red Deli ...

for $5000, which first marketed it as a companion of their Red Delicious in 1914. In 2010, an Italian-led consortium announced they had decoded the complete genome of the 'Golden Delicious' apple. It had the highest number of genes (57,000) of any plant genome studied to date. 'Golden Delicious' was designated the official state fruit of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

by a Senate resolution on February 20, 1995. Clay County has hosted an annual Golden Delicious Festival since 1972. Other West Virginia apples include Grimes Golden, and Guyandotte, which is believed extinct. 'Golden Delicious' was one of four apples honored by the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...

in a 2013 set of four 33¢ stamps commemorating historic strains, joined by ' Northern Spy', ' Baldwin', and ' Granny Smith'.

Appearance and flavor

'Golden Delicious' is a large, yellowish-green skinned cultivar and very sweet to the taste. It is prone to bruising and shriveling, so it needs careful handling and storage. It is a favorite for

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

s, apple sauce, and apple butter.

Season

'Golden Delicious' are harvested from fall through winter.

Descendant cultivars

Akita Gold is a Japanese name and may refer to: Places * 8182 Akita, a main-belt asteroid * Akita Castle, a Nara period fortified settlement in Akita, Japan * Akita Domain, also known as Kubota Domain, feudal domain in Edo period Japan * Akita, Kumamot ...

' ('Golden Delicious' × ' Fuji') *' Ambrosia' (believed to be 'Starking Delicious' × 'Golden Delicious') *' Arlet' ('Golden Delicious' × 'Idared') *'

Autumn Glory Autumn Glory (''Malus domestica'' 'Huaguan') 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 ...

' ('Golden Delicious' x 'Fuji') *' Bohemia' ('Lord Lambourne' × 'Golden Delicious') *' Cadel' '(Jonathan' × 'Golden Delicious') *' Cameo' ('Golden Delicious' × ' Red Delicious') *' Caudle' ('Golden Delicious' × 'Red Delicious') *'

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

' ('Golden Delicious' × 'Cox Orange') *' Chantecler' ('Golden Delicious' × 'Reinette Clochard') *' Cripps Pink' (marketed as ; 'Golden Delicious' × ' Lady Williams') *' Delbarestivale' ('Golden Delicious' × 'Stark Jonagrimes') *'

Elstar The Elstar apple is an apple cultivar that was first developed in the Netherlands in Elst in the 1950s by crossing Golden Delicious and Ingrid Marie apples. It quickly became popular, especially in Europe and was first introduced to America ...

' ('Ingrid Marie' × 'Golden Delicious') *' Firm Gold' (Starkspur 'Golden Delicious', U.S. PP 2024 × Starkrimson 'Red Delicious', U.S. PP 1565) *' Gala' ('Kidds Orange' × 'Golden Delicious') *' Ginger Gold' ('Albemarle Pippin' × 'Golden Delicious') *' Goldspur' a 'Golden Delicious'-like cultivar from Holland which is spur bearing *' Iduna' ('Golden Delicious' × 'Glockenapfel') *'

Jonagold Jonagold is a cultivar of apple which was developed in 1953 in New York State Agricultural Experiment Station of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, a cross between the crisp Golden Delicious and the blush-crimson ...

' ('Golden Delicious' × 'Jonathan') *' Lucky Rose Golden' A patented 'Golden Delicious' mutant *' Maigold' ('Fraurotacher' × 'Golden Delicious') *' Mutsu (apple)' (Indo apple × 'Golden Delicious') *' Opal (apple)' ('Topaz' × 'Golden Delicious') *'

Pinova 'Pinova' is a German apple cultivar. It was created in 1965 at the Institut für Obstforschung of Dresden–Pillnitz in Saxony which at that time was in the German Democratic Republic. After Germany was re-united in 1990, the rights to the c ...

' (' Clivia' × 'Golden Delicious') *' Rubinette' ('Golden Delicious' × 'Cox Orange') *' Sekai Ichi' ('Golden Delicious' × 'Red Delicious') *' Spigold' ('Northern Spy' × 'Golden Delicious') *' Sundowner' ('Golden Delicious' × 'Lady Williams') *' Tentation delblush' ('Grifer' (Blushing Golden) × 'Golden Delicious')

References

External links

Overview of various apple cultivars
in What Am I Eating? A Food Dictionary {{Apples, state=collapsed Trees of the Northeastern United States Symbols of West Virginia Cuisine of West Virginia American apples Apple cultivars