North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["TIM INMAN" <TIM@HISTORICINTERIORS.COM>]

Lon is right:  The original red delicious, the Iowa Hawkeye Delicious, is a superior apple in all regards.  Unfortunately, it is a great example of what mass production and quantity over quality can do to a good thing.  Hawkeye is very prone to sporting, thus over the years we've come so far away from the original it is almost unrecognizable.  The Red Delicious in stores today are just junk. 

 

There is a long and very interesting story behind the Hawkeye.  Stark, who bought the rights to the original Hawkeye and renamed it Red Delicious, now sells what they call Heritage Red Delicious.  I believe they are derived from Dwayne Manning in Woodbine, Iowa.  He has a Hawkeye surrounded by barbed wire and security fences and he should be given credit for preserving the original Hawkeye Red Delicious. 

 

Commercial orchards must make a profit, but the old saying comes to my mind, "Penny wise, pound foolish."  I think they've ruined Red Delicious for most people.

 

Just My Opinion!

 

Tim Inman