Gala (apple)

Malus domestica 'Gala'
Details
Hybrid parentage	'Kidd's Orange Red' × 'Golden Delicious'
Cultivar	'Gala'
Origin	New Zealand, 1920s

Fruit and leaf detail

Gala is a clonally propagated apple with a mild and sweet flavor. Gala apples ranked at number 2 in 2006 on the US Apple Association's list of most popular apples, after Red Delicious and before Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and Fuji (in order).

Appearance and flavor

Gala apples are small and are usually red with a portion being greenish or yellow-green, vertically striped. Gala apples are fairly resistant to bruising and are sweet, grainy, with a mild flavor and a thinner skin than most apples. Quality indices include firmness, crispness, and lack of meal worms.

History

The first Gala apple tree was one of many seedlings resulting from a cross between a Golden Delicious and a Kidd's Orange Red planted in New Zealand in the 1930s by orchardist J.H. Kidd. Donald W. McKenzie, an employee of Stark Bros Nursery, obtained a US plant patent for the cultivar on October 15, 1974. The variety is also an increasingly popular option for UK top fruit farmers. It is a relatively new introduction to the UK, first planted in commercial volumes during the 1980s. The variety now represents about 20% of the total volume of the commercial production of eating apples grown in the UK, often replacing Cox's Orange Pippin.

Sports (mutations)

Many sports of Gala have been selected, mostly for increased red color, including the popular Royal Gala. The original cultivar produced fruit with orange stripes and a partial orange blush over a yellow background. Since then, several un-patented sports have been recognized. Additionally, more than twenty sports have received US plant patents:

Date	"Inventor"	Marketed as	Mutated From	Assignee	Habit	Pattern	Earlier	Color	Plant Patent Number
Oct 15, 1974	McKenzie	Gala	-	Stark	standard	partial blush	-	yellow	US plant patent 3637
Oct 4, 1977	Ten Hove	Royal Gala, Tenroy	Gala3637	Stark	standard	stripe	-	red	US plant patent 4121
May 10, 1988	Creech	Scarlet Gala	Kidd's D-83637	C & 0	standard	blush	-	scarlet	US plant patent 6172
Aug 1, 1989	Kiddle	Galaxy	Tenroy4121	Stark	standard	stripe	earlier	intense red	US plant patent 6955
Dec 18, 1990	Cooper	Treco Spur Red Gala No. 42, Regal	Auvil	Oregon Rootstock	spur	stripe	-	red	US plant patent 7396
Jul 16, 1991	Fulford	Fulford	Kidd3637		standard	blush	-	bright red	US plant patent 7589
Mar 1, 1994	Olsen	Obrogala, UltraRed	Tenroy4121	Stark	standard	stripe	2–4 days	redder	US plant patent 8621
Apr 5, 1994	Waliser	Waliser Gala	Tenroy4121	Waliser	standard	stripe	10 days	bright red	US plant patent 8673
May 10, 1994	Hill	Applewaites	Kidd's3637		standard	blush	2–3 days	more complete red	US plant patent 8720
Nov 5, 1996	Olsen	Olsentwo Gala, Pacific Gala	Royal Gala4121		standard	stripe	5–10 days	distinguishably different	US plant patent 9681
Sep 2 1997	Brookfield	Baigent	Royal Gala4121	Brookfield	standard	stripe	extremely early	bright red	US plant patent 10016
Nov 11 1997	Gale	Gale Gala	Royal Gala4121	Van Well	standard	stripe	3 weeks	more complete	US plant patent 10114
Jun 23, 1998	Fackler	Big Red Gala	Kidd's3637	Protree	standard	stripe	-	same	US plant patent 10458
Mar 30, 1999	Simmons	Simmons	Imperial	Peace Valley	standard	stripe	21 days	brighter red	US plant patent 10840
Jan 18, 2000	Stiekema	Stiekema 1	Obragala8621		standard	blush	-	red	US plant patent 11182
Apr 11, 2000	McSpadden, Jr	Caitlin	Tenroy4121	Stark	standard	stripe	"earlier"	-	US plant patent 11348
Aug 13, 2002	Black	Harry Black	Kidd's3637	International Plant Management	standard	stripe	5 wk. later	-	US plant patent 12842
Apr 29, 2003	Banning	Banning Gala	Imperial		standard	stripe	-	intense red blush, darker stripe	US plant patent 13753
Jan 6, 2004	Smith	Smith gala	Tenroy4121		standard	stripe	-	yellow	US plant patent 14448
May 4, 2004	Weaver	Weaver	Fulford7589	Adams County Nursery	more compact	blush	-	bright red	US plant patent 14752
Jan 4, 2005	Ligonniere	Dalitoga	Imperial	SNC Elaris	standard	stripe	3 wk.	yellow	US plant patent 15465
Aug 15, 2006	Burkitt	Burkitt Gala	Tenroy4121	BMA Trust	standard	stripe	10 d.	completely red	US plant patent 17013
Feb 26, 2008	McDonald	El Niño	Royal4121		standard	intense dark red stripe		bright red	US plant patent 18512
Jul 8 2008	McLaughlin	McLaughlin Gala	Kidd's3637		standard		4—6 d.	yellow	US plant patent 19007
Dec 30, 2008	Fankhauser	Alvnia	Gala	Fankhauser	standard	stripes	"earlier"	red, > 95A% coverage	US plant patent 19604
Apr 14, 2009	Richard	Galaval	Galaxy6955	Pepinieres du Valois	standard	blush	-	intense dark purple brown	US plant patent 19909

Unpatented varieties include: Auvil, Imperial

Descendent cultivar(s)

• Delfloga (Royal Gala × Florina)
• Jazz (Royal Gala × Braeburn)
• Nicoter (Gala × Braeburn)

Season

Gala apples are grown from May through September in the northern hemisphere, but, like most apples, are available almost all year through the use of cold storage and controlled atmosphere storage. Australian Gala are available from late January. California fruit is available until October. While the season usually lasts only 9 or 10 months, they are able to last all year round. However due to some apples continuing to be grown in some orchards, and the fact that they can be refrigerated for some months, leads to the availability of the Gala apple year round in some Australian markets. These usually taste different (slightly less sweet) from those in season.The UK season begins in late summer (August). Storage makes the UK fruit available nearly year round as with fruit from other origins.

Royal Gala cultigen

Royal Gala is a cultigen made from a sport of the Gala apple in the 1970s. It is a pink-red dessert apple and is therefore usually eaten fresh. Royal Galas are usually harvested in early to late February in the southern hemisphere.

Storage

The optimum temperature for storing apples is between -1° and 1°C (30 to 34°F), and the optimum relative humidity is 90 to 95%. Ethylene gas can speed ripening and spoilage and reduce firmness of apples, as with many other fruit.

External links

• New York Apple Association description