What Is a Red Delicious Apple?
A Red Delicious apple is an American fruit unintentionally created in 1880 from a chance seedling and cultivated extensively since its introduction to the public in 1892. The earliest version of this apple was a yellowish, round fruit, but changes in growing conditions, fertilization and harvesting have turned the Red Delicious into a more oval shaped apple with a deep red color. The taste has changed as well and the apple that was once known for its superior sweetness has lost some of its original flavor, texture and general appeal. Since the 1980s, production of the Red Delicious apple has declined steadily as a result of decreasing consumer demand. The Iowan farmer who grew the original Red Delicious named it a Hawkeye and entered it into a contest. Hawkeye won the contest, which was run by Stark Nurseries, and changed the apple’s name to Stark Delicious. In 1914, it was renamed Red Delicious in an effort to more clearly distinguish it from the newly acquired Golden Delicious.
