Gala (apple)

The Gala apple, a sweet and mild variety with a crisp yet tender bite, is known for its striped or mottled orange-red skin. It originated in New Zealand during the 1930s, the result of a cross between a Golden Delicious and a Kidd's Orange Red. Like most named apples, it is propagated clonally. Its ease of cultivation has helped it become a leading commercial variety, particularly popular in North America.

Appearance and flavor

The apple's color is uneven, typically featuring vertical stripes or mottling over an orange base. Its creamy white flesh is fine-grained, aromatic, and sweet. While suitable for eating raw or cooking, it is especially good for making sauces. The fruit has a density of 0.86 g/cc, a sugar content of 13.5%, an acidity of 4.2 grams per liter, and contains 0 to 5 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams.

History

The first Gala tree was one of many seedlings from a cross planted by orchardist J.H. Kidd in Greytown, New Zealand, in the 1930s. It was selected in 1939 and introduced commercially in 1960. Donald W. McKenzie of Stark Bros Nursery obtained a U.S. plant patent for the cultivar on October 15, 1974. In the UK, it was a relatively late arrival, first planted in commercial volumes during the 1980s, and now accounts for about 20% of the country’s commercial eating apple production, often replacing Cox's Orange Pippin.

In Canada during the 2000s, Nova Scotia’s provincial government subsidized apple producers to replace older trees, mainly McIntosh, with higher-return varieties like Gala. Orchardists elsewhere in Canada followed suit. By the 2020s, Gala had become one of the top apple varieties in Canada, alongside Ambrosia and Honeycrisp, with most Canadian Gala apples grown in Ontario and British Columbia. In the United States, wholesalers began seeking new varieties in the 1980s and picked Gala.

In 2018, it surpassed Red Delicious as the most produced apple cultivar in the U.S., the first time in over 50 years that any variety had outproduced Red Delicious. By 2024, Gala accounted for 17% of U.S. apple sales, more than any other variety. Most American Gala apples are harvested in Washington State, Michigan, and New York.

Sports (mutations)

Many sports of Gala have been selected, mostly for deeper red color, including the popular Royal Gala. The original cultivar had orange stripes and a partial orange blush over a yellow background. Several unpatented sports have been recognized, and more than twenty sports have received U.S. plant patents.

Season

Gala apples are grown from May through September in the northern hemisphere but, like most apples, are available nearly year-round through cold and controlled-atmosphere storage. Australian Gala apples are available from late January, and California fruit lasts until October. While the season typically lasts nine or ten months, year-round availability is possible in some Australian markets due to continued orchard production and refrigeration, though stored apples may taste slightly less sweet. The UK season begins in late summer (August), with storage making fruit available nearly year-round.

Royal Gala, a sport patented by Stark in 1977, produces redder fruit than the original and is a pink-red dessert apple usually eaten fresh. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is harvested from early to late February. In New Zealand, the original pinker Gala has nearly disappeared commercially in favor of the darker-skinned Royal Gala.