To taste the fruit for the first time and realize it was just incredible.” “The was a chance seedling, and I like to imagine what a revelation it was to come across this apple tree that you hadn’t even planted. “It was kind of this ‘gold-rush mentality’ with apples where if you found a really good one, you could market it,” says Yankee’s Amy Traverso, author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook. Soon, however, selective breeding took its toll. By the 1940s it was the best-selling apple in the United States. The Genetic Downfall of the Red Delicious Apple Hiatt submitted his Hawkeye apple for consideration.Īfter one bite of Hiatt’s creation, the president of Stark Brothers exclaimed, “My! This apple is delicious!” He paused, then declared, “That will be its name!”Īccording to LeAnn Zotta’s book 200 Years and Growing: The Story of Stark Bro’s Nurseries & Orchards Co., Stark Brothers soon purchased the rights from Hiatt and named the apple the “Stark Delicious.” In 1914, after the naming of the Golden Delicious, it received its final name: Red Delicious. In 1893, hoping to find an apple with the beauty of a Ben Davis but with superior taste, Missouri-based Stark Brothers Nurseries & Orchards held a contest. Despite his repeated attempts to stop the interloper from taking root, it continued to spring up year after year. Hiatt eventually gave up and dubbed the apple “Hawkeye” in honor of his home state. In the late 1880s, Iowa farmer Jesse Hiatt stumbled across a mystery apple seedling in his orchard. Alas, all of this was due to the apple’s good looks, however, rather than its taste.
Extremely popular during the 19th century and early 20th century, this cultivar was known to fruit growers as a “mortgage lifter” because it was so reliable. The story begins with the Ben Davis apple. Imagine my frustration, then, when I learned that Red Delicious apples were actually engineered to be bad. The kind of apple that is purely an “apple of the eye,” seemingly intended for everything but consumption. The kind of apple that almost resists letting you bite it. A simple mention of the name conjures up memories of dejected lunchbox remnants. I rant about Red Delicious apples fairly frequently. Pixabay Red Delicious Apples Weren’t Always Horrible Yet the same process that led to this iconic apple’s vibrant color actually led to its downfall. When you picture an apple, you probably picture a Red Delicious.
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