Currently the best apple variety, Golden Delicious, what are the characteristics of Golden Delicious and how does it taste?

Golden Delicious is a very popular supermarket apple variety, and apple enthusiasts who are now rediscovering its potential are undertaking something of a rehabilitation.

The variety was discovered by a farmer in West Virginia at the end of the 19th century. It is generally considered to be a seedling of Grimes Golden, which it strongly resembles. The variety was soon taken up by the famous Stark Brothers nursery, which was so impressed that it bought the original tree and the land around it. The tree survived until the 1950s, by which time it had become one of the greatest apple varieties in the world.

Golden Delicious is now grown in all the main warm apple-growing regions of the world. From a grower's point of view, Golden Delicious is an attractive proposition - very easy to grow, a heavy cropper, and the fruit keeps well after harvest.

These qualities meant that by the middle of the 20th century, Golden Delicious had become one of the mainstays of supermarket apple sales, along with Red Delicious and Granny Smith. At the end of the 20th century, when apple flavour became important again, critics considered Golden Delicious bland and boring, and it became a victim of its own success.

However, enthusiasts are increasingly rediscovering Golden Delicious and recognising that there is a very good apple behind the appeal of mass production and supermarket shelves. Part of the problem is that supermarket fruit is often picked green and then stored for months before sale. By contrast, the true flavour emerges when the tree is ripe to a golden-green - especially sweet and rich, like eating raw sugarcane. Golden Delicious is also a versatile apple, used for both dessert and cooking purposes, and it has an attractive appearance - if ripened on the tree, it can indeed be golden.

Furthermore, there is no doubt about the importance of Golden Delicious in the number of new varieties raised from it. You do not need to be a professional grower to realise that crossing Golden Delicious with Cox's Orange Pippin (or their respective descendants) could bring together the sweetness of Golden Delicious and the richness and complexity of Cox, and indeed many have tried. The other supermarket staple, Gala, is a good example of this strategy.

If you have a warm and sheltered microclimate, Golden Delicious can grow well in the UK. Our photos show Golden Delicious grown in the UK - not the perfect specimens you might see in a supermarket, but still a delicious crisp sweet apple.

The variety known as Yellow Delicious is considered synonymous with Golden Delicious, and may be the result of unauthorised propagation from the original Golden Delicious tree.