Red Delicious and Golden Delicious are two popular apple cultivars with interesting etymologies. Red Delicious was discovered in 1872 by Jesse Hiatt, an Iowan farmer, who initially named it Hawkeye after the state’s nickname. The rights were later acquired by Stark Brothers Nurseries, who rebranded it as Stark Delicious. Gold Delicious, on the other hand, was developed by Anderson Mullins of West Virginia and was originally called Mullin’s Yellow Seedling. Stark Brothers cleverly marketed it alongside Red Delicious, leading to the renaming of Stark Delicious to Red Delicious, and consequently changing Mullin’s Seedling to Golden Delicious.
