The Golden Delicious apple is an American variety with a sweet, crunchy flesh, popular for cooking and making purees and sauces. It was accidentally discovered in West Virginia and is speculated to be a hybrid of two other apple varieties. It is prone to bruising and wilting but has been successfully exported since the 1920s. It is the official state fruit of West Virginia and is celebrated at the annual Golden Delicious Festival in Clay County.
A golden delicious apple is a green to yellow colored apple of American origin. The inner flesh is described as crunchy, juicy and sweet, although some critics of the apple find it bland. The delicious golden apple is a popular apple for cooking and making into purees and sauces as it retains a rich flavor.
Originally from West Virginia, the delicious golden apple was an accidental seedling on the Mullins family farm. It is speculated to be a hybrid of the ‘Golden Reinette’ and ‘Grimes Golden’ apple varieties. Propagation rights were sold to Stark Brothers Nurseries, who purchased the tree and the land around it for $5,000 US Dollars (USD) in the early 1900s. Stark Brothers marketed the delicious golden apple as a companion to the delicious red apple which they were already propagating and selling, even though the delicious golden was not genetically related.
Golden Delicious is a larger apple, yellow in color when ripe, and sweeter than similar cooking apples such as Granny Smith. While Golden Delicious keeps for a long time, it is prone to bruising and wilting, so it needs to be handled with care in shipping and transportation. The flesh tends to be crunchier than other apple varieties. The apple becomes ripe for picking in the fall and fruit picking continues through the winter. The apple has been successfully exported and grown in countries other than the United States since the 1920s.
In the culinary world, the delicious golden apple is popular for use in salads and other applications where the apple is left raw. When the apple is cooked, it is a popular choice to make both applesauce and apple butter, and once cooked and pureed, it is used in baby food. The apple flavor persists well during cooking and the delicious golden apple is also used in dessert applications such as sauces, sorbets and ice cream. The apple is also considered by some to be the best choice for making apple cider.
The state of West Virginia designated the delicious golden apple as the official state fruit in 1955 in a Senate resolution. Clay County West Virginia, where Mullins’ farm was originally located, has held a delicious gold festival every year since 1972. This festival is held in September every year in Clay, West Virginia and features a parade show , parades, quilts, and other family activities.
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