Golden Delicious is a yellow-skinned apple with good levels of sweetness and a crunchy, blocky texture. Widely reviled by apple connoisseurs due to it’s supposed blandness, a good Golden Delicious can actually be a very pleasant experience and at good value.
For many years, British consumers were convinced that Golden Delicious should be green, as educated by the wholesale trade. However, green usually means less maturity and therefore less sweetness, no doubt contributing to the varieties bad press! In France and Italy, Golden Delicious is eaten when it is bright yellow to maximise sweetness, though often at the expense of a little softness. However, when the balance between colour, sweetness and texture is right, this is a perfectly acceptable apple.
Golden Delicious grown in South African have a good reputation as the sweetest, while high altitude Golden Delicious (from Limousin in France and Sud-Tyrol in Italy) is also flavoursome and crunchy, often with an attractive red blush.
Country may vary
