Gala is a clonally propagated apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

 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

Red Delicious

The Red Delicious is a clone of apple cultigen, now comprising more than 50 cultivars, that was recognized in Madison County, Iowa, United States, in 1880...

 and before Golden Delicious

Golden Delicious

The Golden Delicious is a cultivar of apple with a yellow color. It is not closely related to the Red Delicious apple.- Appearance and flavor :...

, Granny Smith

Granny Smith

The Granny Ramsey Smith green apple is a tip-bearing apple cultivar, which originated in Australia in 1868. It is named after Maria Ann Smith, who propagated the cultivar from a chance seedling. The tree is thought to be a hybrid of Malus sylvestris, the European Wild Apple, with the domestic...

, and Fuji

Fuji (apple)

The Fuji apple is an apple clone developed by growers at the Tohoku Research Station in Fujisaki, Aomori, Japan, in the late 1930s, and brought to market in 1962...

 (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 sweetness.

History

The first Gala apple tree was one of many seedlings resulting from a cross between a Golden Delicious

Golden Delicious

The Golden Delicious is a cultivar of apple with a yellow color. It is not closely related to the Red Delicious apple.- Appearance and flavor :...

 and a Kidd's Orange Red planted in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 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

Cox's Orange Pippin

Cox's Orange Pippin is an apple cultivar first grown in 1825, at Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire, England, by the retired brewer and horticulturist Richard Cox. Though the origin of the cultivar is unknown, the Ribston Pippin seems a likely candidate. The variety was introduced for sale by the 1850s...

.

Sports (mutations)

Many sports

Sport (botany)

In botany, a sport is a part of a plant that shows morphological differences from the rest of the plant. Sports may differ by foliage shape or color, flowers, or branch structure....

 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
Oct 4, 1977	Ten Hove	Royal Gala, Tenroy	Gala3637	Stark	standard	stripe	-	red
May 10, 1988	Creech	Scarlet Gala	Kidd's D-83637	C & 0	standard	blush	-	scarlet
Aug 1, 1989	Kiddle	Galaxy	Tenroy4121	Stark	standard	stripe	earlier	intense red
Dec 18, 1990	Cooper	Treco Spur Red Gala No. 42, Regal	Auvil	Oregon Rootstock	spur	stripe	-	red
Jul 16, 1991	Fulford	Fulford	Kidd3637		standard	blush	-	bright red
Mar 1, 1994	Olsen	Obrogala, UltraRed	Tenroy4121	Stark	standard	stripe	2-4 days	redder
Apr 5, 1994	Waliser	Waliser Gala	Tenroy4121	Waliser	standard	stripe	10 days	bright red
May 10, 1994	Hill	Applewaites	Kidd's3637		standard	blush	2-3 days	more complete red
Nov 5, 1996	Olsen	Olsentwo Gala, Pacific Gala	Royal Gala4121		standard	stripe	5-10 days	distinguishably different
Sep 2 1997	Brookfield	Baigent	Royal Gala4121	Brookfield	standard	stripe	extremely early	bright red
Nov 11 1997	Gale	Gale Gala	Royal Gala4121	Van Well	standard	stripe	3 weeks	more complete
Jun 23, 1998	Fackler	Big Red Gala	Kidd's3637	Protree	standard	stripe	-	same
Mar 30, 1999	Simmons	Simmons	Imperial	Peace Valley	standard	stripe	21 days	brighter red
Jan 18, 2000	Stiekema	Stiekema 1	Obragala8621		standard	blush	-	red
Apr 11, 2000	McSpadden, Jr	Caitlin	Tenroy4121	Stark	standard	stripe	"earlier"	-
Aug 13, 2002	Black	Harry Black	Kidd's3637	International Plant Management	standard	stripe	5 wk. later	-
Apr 29, 2003	Banning	Banning Gala	Imperial		standard	stripe	-	intense red blush, darker stripe
Jan 6, 2004	Smith	Smith gala	Tenroy4121		standard	stripe	-	yellow
May 4, 2004	Weaver	Weaver	Fulford7589	Adams County Nursery	more compact	blush	-	bright red
Jan 4, 2005	Ligonniere	Dalitoga	Imperial	SNC Elaris	standard	stripe	3 wk.	yellow
Aug 15, 2006	Burkitt	Burkitt Gala	Tenroy4121	BMA Trust	standard	stripe	10 d.	completely red
Feb 26, 2008	McDonald	El Niño	Royal4121		standard	intense dark red stripe		bright red
Jul 8 2008	McLaughlin	McLaughlin Gala	Kidd's3637		standard		4—6 d.	yellow
Dec 30, 2008	Fankhauser	Alvnia	Gala	Fankhauser	standard	stripes	"earlier"	red, > 95A% coverage
Apr 14, 2009	Richard	Galaval	Galaxy6955	Pepinieres du Valois	standard	blush	-	intense dark purple brown

Unpatented varieties include: Auvil, Imperial

Descendent cultivar(s)

• Delfloga (Royal Gala × Florina)
• Jazz
  Jazz (apple)
  Jazz is a relatively new apple variety from New Zealand. It is the result of a cross between Royal Gala and Braeburn made by Plant & Food Research in 1985. It is also known as Scifresh...
  
   (Royal 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

Cold storage

Cold storage may refer to:* A form of refrigerated storage* Cold Storage, a musician also known as Tim Wright * Cold Storage , a supermarket found in Singapore and Malaysia* COLD...

 and controlled atmosphere

Controlled atmosphere

A controlled atmosphere is an agricultural storage method. An atmosphere in which oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen concentrations as well as temperature and humidity are regulated.Two major classes of commodity can be stored in 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) with picking through to October. 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

Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...

.

Storage

The optimum temperature for storing apples is between -1° and 1°C (30 to 34°F), and the optimum relative humidity

Relative humidity

Relative humidity is a term used to describe the amount of water vapor in a mixture of air and water vapor. It is defined as the partial pressure of water vapor in the air-water mixture, given as a percentage of the saturated vapor pressure under those conditions...

 is 90 to 95%. Ethylene

Ethylene

Ethylene is a gaseous organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest alkene . Because it contains a carbon-carbon double bond, ethylene is classified as an unsaturated hydrocarbon. Ethylene is widely used in industry and is also a plant hormone...

 gas

Gas

Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...

can speed ripening and spoilage and reduce firmness of apples, as with many other fruit.

External links

• New York Apple Association description