Cornell expert explains the history of Gala vs. Red Delicious apples

With the U.S. Apple Association predicting Gala will take the title of most popular apple replacing Red Delicious, Susan Brown, professor of horticulture and world-renowned apple breeder provides the history behind both varieties. 

Brown bred the SnapDragon and RubyFrost varieties at Cornell University. Cornell has released over 65 apple varieties since the late 1890s, including the popular Cortland, Macoun, Empire and Jonagold.

Bio: https://hort.cals.cornell.edu/people/susan-brown/

Brown says:

Apple history: “Red Delicious apples have been an icon of the apple industry almost since their discovery and commercialization in 1914. The Red Delicious conic apple shape is what many school children draw as apples across the world. The original Red Delicious was actually a bi-colored apple, but slight mutations in color were found. Over time as the Red Delicious variety was commercialized, there was a change to full red color with an accompanying loss of flavor.

“Gala, while now approaching the No. 1 spot, took a while to get there. Gala was planted as a progeny of Golden Delicious and Kidd’s Orange Red in New Zealand during the 1930s and did not receive its US patent until 1974. Gala has a sweet, spicy flavor and lots of aroma compounds that contribute to great flavor.

“Similarly, our No. 1 apple in New York is McIntosh, which dates back to Canada in the early 1800s.”

Cornell University has television, ISDN and dedicated Skype/Google+ Hangout studios available for media interviews.

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