Gala apple
Malus domestica
One of the most widely-grown apple varieties, with a sweet pleasant flavour and good keeping qualities.
Parentage: Golden Delicious and Kidd's Orange Red
Origin: New Zealand
Introduced:
Season: Oct-Mar
Apple cultivar ID: 108500
One of the most widely grown apple varieties in the world, and a mainstay of the supermarket apple selection - not least because it is available year round from northern and southern hemisphere suppliers. It is available from UK suppliers to the major supermarkets, but needs a warm climate to grow best.
Gala is a cross between Kidd's Orange Red and Golden Delicious - a highly promising start ! The colouration of Gala is exactly as you would expect from a cross between a Cox-type variety (Cox is one of the parents of Kidd's Orange Red) and Golden Delicious. It starts out as a very light coloured Cox, mainly orange streaks over yellow; mature apples are much darker, often a strong red colour. (The colour is a good indicator in supermarket Galas of the age of the apple: if it is very pale then it is probably the new season's crop, probably picked slightly early; if it is very dark then either it has been left deliberately on the tree to mature or it has matured over a long period in a cold store).
It is interesting to compare Gala with Freyberg. Freyberg was developed by the same grower in New Zealand and is a cross between Golden Delicious and Cox's Orange Pippin, whereas Gala is a cross between Golden Delicious and Kidd's Orange Red (which is itself an offspring of Cox). A comparison of Gala and Freyberg is therefore a way of looking at the effect of the richness of a Cox, applied in varying degrees on the easy-going sweet flavour of Golden Delicious.
Because Gala is so widely grown, and keeps well in storage, it is not unusual around April/May and September/October to see Gala apples for sale from both northern and southern hemisphere suppliers at the same time - with one having spent roughly six months in storage. In the UK, make sure you are buying southern hemisphere Galas after April, and northern hemisphere after September. This may be something of a generalisation, but Galas from South Africa and New Zealand seem to taste fresher and crisper than those from Brazil. From the northern hemisphere, French ones are generally better than UK ones.
Apple purists tend to dismiss supermarket varieties like Gala as bland and boring, often with good reason. However it has to be said that if you want a reliable sweet easy-eating apple, Gala is actually hard to beat. It is also important to compare "apples with apples" - a locally-picked specialist variety in a farmers market is inevitably going to taste better than a supermarket Gala which has travelled from another country. However, anyone fortunate enough to have tried a Gala straight from the tree will know that it has a surprisingly punchy sweet flavour, not found in supermarket specimens. At the end of the day, whilst there are undoubtedly many better varieties around, none of them are so readily available !
Our photo shows a tree-ripened Gala grown in the south of England. Note that it is a deeper red than some shop-bought Galas, and the resemblance to Kidd's Orange Red is quite noticeable in this particular example.
Relationships to other apple varieties
Offspring of this variety
Parents and other ancestors of this variety
- Golden Delicious (parent)
- Kidd's Orange Red (parent)
Where to buy apple trees
The following fruit tree nurseries offer Gala apple trees for sale:
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Keepers Nursery
, Kent, United Kingdom (Deliver nationally)
Available November-March
More supplier details
Where to buy fruit and related products
The following orchards and suppliers offer Gala apples for sale:
-
Organic Royal Gala apples
Only Organic , South Wales, United Kingdom (Deliver locally)
More supplier details -
Crimson Gala and Fulford Gala varieties
Holy Root Farm , Pennsylvania, United States (Local collection only)
Available from late August 2008
More supplier details
Apple tree register
The following Gala trees have been registered - click the name to view more details of each tree:
- 09 Aug 08 Axel Kratel Santa Cruz, California, United States
- 05 Aug 08 Laraine Santagato Atwater, California, United States
Do you have a tree of this variety in your garden or orchard? If so please register here and contribute to our international register of apple trees.
Variety request
Is your favourite variety not listed here? We are constantly adding new variety details, so please use our contact form to suggest new varieties.
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