Golden Delicious Explained

Golden Delicious
Species:Malus domestica
Hybrid:Grimes Golden x ?[1]
Cultivar:Golden Delicious
Origin:Clay County, West Virginia, United States, 1905

Golden Delicious is a cultivar of apple. It is one of the 15 most popular apple cultivars in the United States.[2] It is not closely related to Red Delicious.[3]

History

Golden Delicious arose from a chance seedling, possibly a hybrid of Grimes Golden[4] and Golden Reinette.[5] The original tree was found on the family farm of J. M. Mullins in Clay County, West Virginia, and was locally known as Mullins' Yellow Seedling. Mullins sold the tree and propagation rights to Stark Brothers Nurseries for $5000, which first marketed it as a companion of their Red Delicious in 1914.[6]

In 1943, the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York developed the Jonagold apple by cross-breeding Golden Delicious and Jonathan trees. The cultivar was officially released in 1968 and went on to become the leading apple cultivar in Europe.[7] According to the USApple Association website,, Golden Delicious, along with its descendent cultivars Gala, Ginger Gold, Honeycrisp, and Jonagold, were among the fifteen most popular apple cultivars in the United States.[8]

Golden Delicious was designated the official state fruit of West Virginia by a Senate resolution on February 20, 1995.[9] Clay County has hosted an annual Golden Delicious Festival since 1972.

In 2010, an Italian-led consortium announced they had decoded the complete genome of the Golden Delicious apple.[10] It had the highest number of genes (57,000) of any plant genome studied to date.

Golden Delicious was one of four apples honored by the United States Postal Service in a 2013 set of four 33¢ stamps commemorating historic strains, joined by Northern Spy, Baldwin, and Granny Smith.[11]

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 eating plain, as well as for use in salads, apple sauce, and apple butter.[12] [13] America's Test Kitchen, Food Network, and Serious Eats all list Golden Delicious apples as one of the best apples for baking apple pie due to its balanced flavor and its high pectin content that allows it to stay intact when cooked.[14] [15]

Season

Golden Delicious are harvested 130-150 days after full bloom.

Golden Delicious mutants

Descendant cultivars

Descendent cultivars
Name Parentage Year: cross made/ selected/ introduced Country of origin Patent
(Golden Delicious × Fuji)[18]
(believed to be Starking Delicious × Golden Delicious)[19]
(Antonovka x Golden Delicious)
Annalee (Blount Golden)Golden Delicious x ??/1962/?USUSPP 3496
Arlet(Golden Delicious × Idared)
(Golden Delicious x Fuji)[20]

Notes and References

  1. Luby, Howard, Tillman, Bedford. HortScience 57(3): 472-477. 2022
  2. Web site: Varieties . US Apple Association . ...a total of 15 popular varieties account for almost 90 percent of 2008 production: Braeburn, Honeycrisp, Cortland, Idared, Empire, Jonagold, Fuji, Jonathan, Gala, McIntosh, Ginger Gold, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Rome, Granny Smith . https://web.archive.org/web/20131013110557/http://www.usapple.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21&Itemid=21 . October 13, 2013. live.
  3. Web site: Founding Clones, Inbreeding, Coancestry, and Status Number of Modern Apple Cultivars. Dominique A.M. Noiton and Peter A. Alspach. September 1996. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. 121. 773–782. June 9, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140609005219/http://journal.ashspublications.org/content/121/5/773.full.pdf. dead.
  4. Encyclopedia: West Virginia Archives & History. West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Golden Delicious: State Fruit of West Virginia – Dunbar Man 'Discoverer' of Golden Delicious Apple. Adrian. Gwin. 2008. (from Charleston Daily Mail October 18, 1962). He is J. M. Mullins, now a man in his 87th year and living in Dunbar, though he spent his lifetime until recent years in Clay County.. https://web.archive.org/web/20080528160552/http://www.wvculture.org/HISTORY/goldendelicious02.html . May 28, 2008.
  5. Mass, V. 1970. Golden Delicious. pp. 69-85. In North American apples: varieties, rootstocks, outlook. Michigan State Univ. Press, East Lansing.
  6. News: Adrian. Higgins. Why the Red Delicious No Longer Is. Decades of Makeovers Alter Apple to Its Core. . When Stark's successors, in a similar stunt, found and named the Golden Delicious growing in West Virginia in 1914, the Delicious became Red Delicious.. . August 5, 2005 . November 25, 2021. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210829062350/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/04/AR2005080402194.html . August 29, 2021.
  7. Volk . Gayle M. . Olmstead . James W. . Finn . Chad E. . Janick . Jules . The ASHS Outstanding Fruit Cultivar Award: A 25-year Retrospective . HortScience . January 1, 2013 . 48 . 1 . 4–12 . 10.21273/HORTSCI.48.1.4 . 0018-5345. free .
  8. Web site: Varieties . . https://web.archive.org/web/20140918025311/http://www.usapple.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21&Itemid=21 . September 18, 2014 . dead.
  9. Web site: Golden Delicious: State Fruit of West Virginia. October 7, 2008. wvculture.org. November 25, 2021. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081007153644/http://www.wvculture.org/history/goldendelicious01.html . October 7, 2008.
  10. Web site: An Italian-led international research consortium decodes the apple genome. AlphaGallileo. August 29, 2010. November 25, 2021. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100905085301/http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=83717&CultureCode=en . September 5, 2010.
  11. Web site: art by Derry Noyes. Postal Service Issues Apples Postcard Stamps; Release No. 13-004. January 17, 2013. December 23, 2015. amp. John Burgoyne. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20210716005640/https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2013/pr13_004.htm . July 16, 2021.
  12. Web site: Golden Delicious . New York Apple Association.
  13. Web site: López-Alt . J. Kenji . A Guide to the Best Apples for Apple Pie . The Food Lab . Serious Eats . March 5, 2023 . en . October 2011.
  14. Web site: Best Apples for Baking . Cook's Illustrated . America's Test Kitchen . March 5, 2023 . en.
  15. Web site: The Best Baking Apples . Food Network . Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. . September 17, 2022 . March 5, 2023 . en.
  16. Book: Obstsorten – Atlas. Silbereisen. Robert. Götz. Gerhard. Hartmann. Walter. Tambour. Gisela. Eberle. Christl. Ulmer (Eugen). 1996. 9783800155378.
  17. Web site: 'Lucky Rose Golden' Apple tree. November 25, 2021. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20211123104750/http://www.freepatentsonline.com/PP09707.pdf . November 23, 2021.
  18. Web site: Apple tree "Akita Gold". November 25, 2021. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111857/https://www.freepatentsonline.com/PP08354.html . March 4, 2016.
  19. Web site: Apple tree named 'Ambrosia'. November 25, 2021. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190411201259/https://www.freepatentsonline.com/PP10789.html . April 11, 2019.
  20. Brown, Susan K., and Kevin E. Maloney. "An Update on Apple Cultivars, Brands and Club-Marketing."

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