Delicious

Delicious
Species	Apple
Trees Found	0
Orchards
Preserved	Clarno Arboretum({{{clarno_year}}})

(Trade-Mark) Distinctive in shape and marvelously beautiful in color, remarkable in quality and perfect in tree and blossom. Stark Delicious stands so apart from all other apples as to make the writing of a description doing it full justice an almost impossible task. Keeps well; in quality it is surpassed by nothing, the finest apple in all the world. NNCS Read the full entry: Delicious on the Variety Finder for deeper history, every book quote, and all nursery catalog references.

Quick Facts

Type	Apple
Season	Late
Flavor	subacid, aromatic, mild
Uses	fresh eating, baking
Keeping quality	Good
Size	Large
Shape	Oblong
Skin color	striped red, red, yellow, green, crimson, dark, striped, pale
Flesh	Yellow firm
Origin	Iowa, USA, c. 1881

Synonyms

Stark Delicious

Fruit

Size: Large; ranges from 72 to 140 per box (Lowther). Bunyard gives medium, 2½ by 2¼ inches. Fisher reports medium to large. Varies considerably in size in response to environment (Lowther).

Form: Roundish-conic to oblong-conic, ribbed (Hedrick, Budd & Hansen); oblong conical with the calyx end irregular in form (Lowther); round, conical, angular (Bunyard); conical, oblong (Fisher). Uniform (Hedrick).

Stem: Long, medium thick (Hedrick); medium, stout (Budd & Hansen); medium (Bunyard).

Cavity: Deep, broad, often furrowed, flaring, greenish (Hedrick); regular, large, deep, gradual, russet (Budd & Hansen); fairly deep (Bunyard).

Calyx/Eye: Medium, nearly closed, with long, narrow, acute lobes (Hedrick); medium, closed; calyx segments medium, erect or reflexed at tips (Budd & Hansen); slightly open (Bunyard). Calyx-tube long, wide funnel-shaped (Hedrick).

Basin: Moderately deep, wide, abrupt, very strongly furrowed and corrugated (Hedrick); regular, large, deep, gradual, with furrows and knobs (Budd & Hansen); rather deep, ribbed (Bunyard).

Skin: Very thick, tough, smooth (Hedrick); medium thick, tenacious; surface smooth except for the ribbing (Budd & Hansen); very thick (Fisher).

Color: Light yellow, nearly to almost entirely overspread with dark, attractive red, splashed and mottled with carmine (Hedrick); yellow, washed with mixed red, splashes and broken stripes of bright crimson, with whitish bloom (Budd & Hansen); golden-yellow with dark crimson flush and stripes (Bunyard); yellowish red, sometimes striped and sometimes deep red (Lowther); green covered with red stripes (Fisher); green-red (Fisher, Bountiful Ridge seedling). Varies considerably in color in response to environment (Lowther). Dots numerous, small, yellow, some indented (Budd & Hansen, Hedrick).

Flesh/Flavor: Yellow/yellowish (Budd & Hansen, Hedrick, Fisher), firm (Bunyard, Hedrick, Fisher), a little coarse (Hedrick), tender (Budd & Hansen, Hedrick), fine in texture (Budd & Hansen), juicy (Budd & Hansen, Bunyard, Hedrick, Fisher), aromatic (Hedrick), highly flavored (Bunyard). Flavor mild subacid, very pleasant (Lowther, Budd & Hansen, Hedrick); rich, distinctive flavor regarded as the variety's chief asset (Hedrick); sweetish, very good flavor (Fisher, Bountiful Ridge seedling). Quality good to very good (Budd & Hansen, Hedrick, Fisher).

Core/Seeds: Core conical, clasping, medium (Budd & Hansen); medium in size, axile, closed with clasping core-lines (Hedrick). Seeds plump, medium, brown (Budd & Hansen); of medium size (Hedrick).

Season

Early winter (Budd & Hansen); November to January (Bunyard); December to last of February (Hedrick); December–March in storage (Fisher). Lowther reports keeping them in "common storage" in good condition until March. Sources show a "lack of unanimity of opinion" on storage behavior (Lowther); fruit shipped from the Pacific Northwest has been received in prime condition in Eastern and Southern markets (Lowther).

Uses

Dessert (Bunyard); very desirable for dessert with mild subacid, very pleasant flavor (Lowther). Not so highly regarded for cooking, although a very good baking apple (Lowther). A high-priced market apple at the time of writing (Lowther).

Sources

• Granville Lowther (ed.), Encyclopedia of Practical Horticulture (1914). Public domain.
• H.H. Fisher, A Survey of Apple Clones in the United States (USDA ARS, 1963). Public domain.
• U.P. Hedrick, Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits (1922). Public domain.
• J.L. Budd & N.E. Hansen, American Horticultural Manual, Part II: Systematic Pomology (1914). Public domain.
• E.A. Bunyard, A Handbook of Hardy Fruits (1920). Public domain.
• USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, U.S. National Agricultural Library.
• 34 historical nursery catalog references (see Variety Finder for the full list).
• Full entry with all citations: Delicious on the Variety Finder