With Fall approaching, that also means apple season is here and upon us! No longer is the Red Delicious apple the King of the apples. It has been dethroned by the Gala apple, which is now America's favorite and most produced apple. It is predicted that this year apple farmers will produce 52.4 million boxes of Gala apples. Followed by 51.7 Red Delicious boxes. That's a lot of apples!
One can expect the numbers to be up from last year with the production of the Gala apple, and that it is. According to the U.S. Apple Association, the Gala apple is up 5.8 percent while the Red Delicious is down 11 percent this year. This is a big blow to Red Delicious enthusiasts as it's been America's favorite and most consumed for the last 5 decades until now, 2018.
When asked, Mark Seetin, the regulatory director of the U.S. Apple Association said, "The rise in production of newer varieties of apples aimed at the fresh consumption domestic market has caused demand for Red Delicious to decline."
Other predictions for the top 5 most consumed/favorite apples this year: in 3rd, Granny Smith is predicted to edge out the Fugi apple, and then my personal favorite, Honeycrisp is predicted to surpass the Golden Delicious for the first time ever!
That's my tid-bit of exciting news for all you Autumn and apple lovers out there. Girlfriends and wives everywhere will be pulling their spouses out into the orchards to go apple picking before you know it! I can already hear the faint sounds of men grumbling everywhere as we inch closer towards Fall.
-Producer Lightning