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Who really discovered the Golden Delicious apple?
Courtesy Van Well Nursery
The Golden Delicious apple originated as a chance seedling discovered in Clay County, West Virginia, but there are two versions of how the apple was discovered. According to widely published accounts, Anderson Mullins noticed a seedling with large yellow apples, unlike any he had seen before, growing on his property. He named it Mullins Yellow Seedling and sent three apples to Stark Brothers Nursery, Missouri. Stark Brothers commercialized the apple in 1916. It met with immediate acclaim and soon became a leading cultivar for both fresh and processing.
Goldspur, shown in this picture from Van Well Nursery's catalog of 1963, was a bud mutation of Golden Delicious discovered by Grady Auvil of Orondo, Washington.
To learn more about the history of Golden Delicious, look for the "Last Bite" in the February 15 issue of the Good Fruit Grower.
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