Red Delicious Apple
America’s favorite snacking apple, the Red Delicious is a classic. Washington apple growers have been producing the world’s best Red Delicious apples since the 1920s. The heart-shaped fruit is bright red and sometimes striped. The flesh is crunchy with a mildly sweet flavor. Many in Washington have grown this apple, but we truly have the ideal climate for this variety. Our higher elevation with warm days and cooler nights brings on the red color while allowing the flesh to develop sugar that makes them taste like candy and retain a firm crunch. We still harvest fruit from our 60 year old Starking Delicious trees.
The Red Delicious apple doesn’t have distinctive parentage like many of the new varieties. It was discovered as a chance seedling on the farm of Jesse Hiatt. The variety was originally known as Hawkeye. But the name was changed to Delicious, after so many who tried the variety declared it the most delicious apple they had eaten.
The fruit is best enjoyed fresh or in salads. It is not an apple that is recommended for cooking or baking with.
