Mullins' Yellow Seedling

type: Dessert

summary: Please see Golden Delicious .

origins: In 1914, Stark Brothers Fruit Company purchased the tree and its fruit from Mullins and renamed it Golden Delicious to align it with a previous acquisition, the re d. While here is no common ancestry between the two, they were both named "Delicious" for marketing purposes. Although Stark Brothers and Mullins kept a close eye on the tree to ensure that none of the apples, nor cuttings from the tree were taken, many cuttings did find their way into the hands of orchardists who referred to them as Yellow Delicious. In addition, there were cuttings from the apple that predated the sale and these remained in circulation as well.

notes: The history of Mullins' Yellow Seedling is complex as can be, with twists and turn typical of a favoured entity and they warrant a second and even third look lest the story become derailed. To take it a step at a time, the story starts with a yellow, perhaps blushed, pale orange, apples growing wild around the Mullins family farm Among them were Grimes Golden ( Grimes Golden ) and (Golden Reinette Golden Reinette ). Speculation suggests that the fingerling found by 15-year-old J.M Mullins in 1891 while tending a hay field on the family farm had sprouted from a Grimes Golden seed. The pollen parent is believed to have been Golden Reinette. Rather than destroying the seedling, J.M. Mullins left it to grow and it was forgotten until 1905 when -- J.M. Mullin's uncle -- became aware of the tree. He named the apples it produced Grimes Golden Seed found considerable demand for them. In 1916 Anderson Mullins sent a small box of three apples from the tree to . The apple could not have been sent at better time since Stark Brothers was aggressively searching for a yellow apple to complement the Red Delicious (a Hawkeye ) it had acquired. The original tree stood for almost half a century on the Mullins family farm, producing fruit and cuttings under the watchful eyes of Bewel Mullins, nephew to Anderson Mullins until it was cut down in 1950. By then, Stark Brothers Nursery had acquired all rights to the Grimes Golden Seed apple tree and the land surrounding it and had promoted it nationwide under the name Golden Delicious. Though other apple trees challenge its reign, it repeatedly stands as North America's most popular apple. The historical marker ????where??? is its permanent reminder. The annual Clay County Golden Delicious Festival is an annual event in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle Annit apple In 19????? the name Mullins' Yellow Seedling was changed to Golden Delicious