Why do Red Delicious apples taste so bad?

If you have bitten into a mealy, bland Red Delicious and wondered how it ever got its name, you are not alone. The short answer: for decades, growers picked Red Delicious trees for looks, not flavor.

The longer story is more interesting, and it starts with an apple that was genuinely good. Read the full Red Delicious profile for flavor, season and storage details.

It started as a great apple

Red Delicious began as a chance seedling on Jesse Hiatt's farm in Peru, Iowa. He called it Hawkeye. In 1893 he entered it in a fruit contest held by Stark Bros. Nurseries, which bought the rights and sold it as Delicious.

Early Delicious apples were striped red and yellow, sweet and aromatic. When Stark introduced Golden Delicious in 1914, the original became Red Delicious, and by the 1940s it was the best-selling apple in the United States.

Bred for color, not flavor

Apple trees sometimes grow a branch with fruit that looks different from the rest, called a sport. Growers noticed that sports with deeper, more solid red skin sold better, so they grafted new trees from them again and again.

Each round made the apple redder and more uniform. But according to apple experts, the genes behind the old striped skin and the genes behind flavor were linked, so selecting for darker color also bred some of the flavor out.

Thick skin and long storage

The selections also gave Red Delicious a thicker, tougher skin, which helped the fruit survive long trips and long storage. That made it easy to ship and sell year-round, but a thick, slightly bitter skin and a long time in storage are also what leave many Red Delicious apples soft and mealy by the time they are eaten.

Gala takes the crown

As shoppers found tastier options like Gala, Honeycrisp and Fuji, Red Delicious began to slip. In 2018, Gala passed it as the most-grown apple in the United States, ending a run of more than 50 years at the top. Many growers have since replaced their Red Delicious trees with newer varieties.

Is Red Delicious worth buying?

A fresh, crisp Red Delicious can still be a pleasant, mildly sweet snack, so buy it in season and eat it soon. Skip it for baking. If you want something sweet and crunchy instead, try Gala, Fuji or Cosmic Crisp.