Apple — Red Delicious

The Red Delicious apple (Malus domestica cv. ‘Red Delicious’) is a widely grown American dessert apple, prized for fresh eating rather than cooking and instantly recognisable by its tall, glossy, deep-red fruit.¹⁴ Although the domesticated apple traces its ancestry to wild apple species of Central Asia, the Red Delicious cultivar itself began as a chance seedling on Jesse Hiatt’s farm in Peru, Iowa, in the 1870s, where it was first known as ‘Hawkeye’.²³⁴ It was recognised in Madison County, Iowa, in 1872, marketed by Stark Brothers Nursery, and its name was standardised to ‘Red Delicious’ in 1914.³⁴ For the home grower in a cool-temperate climate, it is a long-lived orchard tree that delivers a reliable, familiar autumn dessert apple.

Red Delicious is a cultivar of the domesticated apple in the rose family, Rosaceae, blooming with pinkish-white flowers in mid-season.¹⁴ The fruit is medium to large, typically about 6 to 8 cm across, with an elongated, conical shape, broad flat shoulders, a narrow pointed base, and the five distinct bumps or lobes at the blossom end that are the variety’s signature; modern strains are more conical than the original, which was more heart-shaped.¹ The skin is characteristically thick, chewy and tough, smooth and glossy and often waxed, with a golden-yellow background overlaid by a dark red to crimson blush and dotted with pale lenticels.¹ Inside, the flesh is ivory to pale yellow, fine-grained, juicy and soft-crisp, though it can turn mealy with age or poor storage, surrounding a central core of tear-drop-shaped, black-brown seeds.¹ The flavour is sweet and mild, with a subtle, neutral character and occasionally faint melon-like notes.¹⁵

Growing Red Delicious apples

This is a cool-temperate apple. The Arbor Day Foundation lists ‘Red Delicious’ as suitable for USDA hardiness zones 5 to 8.⁴ It grows best in full sun, wanting at least six hours of direct light a day for good fruiting and tree health.⁴⁶ It prefers moist, well-drained soils and is described as not drought-tolerant, so it needs regular watering, especially during dry periods, with consistent moisture maintained after planting.⁴⁶

Like apples generally, Red Delicious is propagated vegetatively by grafting the cultivar onto a rootstock rather than grown true from seed, which is why it is always sold as a named variety.⁴⁶ When planting, set the rootball so its top sits at or slightly above soil level, backfill with native soil mixed with an organic planting mix, water thoroughly, and mulch about two inches deep, keeping the mulch off the trunk.⁶ The tree is fast-growing, putting on up to about three feet of growth a year according to Arbor Day Foundation guidance.⁴ Fruit ripens mid to late season, with medium to large dark red apples typically ready from mid-September to mid-October in many U.S. climates.¹⁴

Pollination

Red Delicious is not self-fertile and requires a second, compatible apple tree nearby to set fruit.⁴ Recommended pollinators include ‘Yellow Delicious’ (Golden Delicious), ‘Red Jonathan’, and ‘Early Harvest’.⁴ Because the bloom is mid-season, a polleniser that flowers at the same time, together with active bees during flowering, is what turns blossom into a crop.

Harvest and uses

The tree produces medium to large, deep crimson apples picked in early to mid autumn, generally mid-September to mid-October depending on climate.¹⁴ Red Delicious is first and foremost a fresh-eating and salad apple: the flesh does not hold its structure well when cooked, so it is rarely used for baking or sauces.²³ The fruit must reach the right firmness at picking and be stored well, because the flesh can become mealy with age or in poor storage conditions.¹ Its deep crimson skin is associated with a relatively high antioxidant content compared with many other apples.³⁵

Sources

1. Specialty Produce. “Red Delicious Apples.”
2. Apple Holler. “The Red Delicious Apple.”
3. Wikipedia. “Red Delicious.”
4. Arbor Day Foundation. “Red Delicious Apple.”
5. Stemilt. “Red Delicious Apples.”
6. Earl May. “Apple, Red Delicious.”