Gala (apple)

The Gala is a highly successful apple cultivar known for its pleasant eating qualities.

It is characterized by a sweet, mild flavor and a crisp texture that is not overly hard. The skin often displays non-uniform colors, typically appearing as orange or reddish stripes or mottling. Inside, the flesh is a creamy white color that is fine-textured and aromatic. Because of these traits, Gala apples are frequently eaten raw, cooked, or used to create fruit sauces.

Cultivating Gala apples involves specific biological and commercial processes. Most named apples, including the Gala, are clonally propagated. This means new trees are grown from the parent plant to ensure they stay identical. The Gala is considered an easy variety to grow, which contributes to its massive commercial success. The fruit has a density of 0.86 g/cc and contains about 13.5% sugar. It also has an acidity level of 4.2 grams per litre and provides between 0 and 5 mg of Vitamin C per 100 grams.

There are many different types of Gala, often referred to as "sports." A sport is a natural mutation of the original plant that results in new characteristics. For example, the Royal Gala is a popular sport that produces fruit with a deeper red color.

While the original cultivar had orange stripes over a yellow background, many sports have been developed for different traits. Some sports, like the Scarlet Gala, feature a scarlet blush. Others, like the Galaxy, show an intense red stripe. More than twenty of these sports have received US plant patents, which are legal protections for new plant varieties.

The history of the Gala began in the 1930s in New Zealand. An orchardist named J.H. Kidd created the first tree in Greytown, Wairarapa. He achieved this by crossing two other varieties: the Golden Delicious and the Kidd's Orange Red. The variety was selected in 1939 and officially introduced in 1960. Later, on October 15, 1974, Donald W. McKenzie of Stark Bros Nursery obtained a US plant patent for the cultivar. This helped the apple spread globally, including to the United Kingdom during the 1980s.

Today, the Gala is a dominant force in the global apple market. In the United States, it became the most produced apple variety during the first half of the 2020s.

A major milestone occurred in 2018 when the Gala surpassed the Red Delicious in production. This was the first time in over 50 years that any cultivar had produced more than the Red Delicious. By 2024, the Gala accounted for 17% of all apple sales in the United States. Most American Gala apples are harvested in Washington, Michigan, and New York.

In other regions, the Gala has also transformed local orchards. In the United Kingdom, the variety represents about 20% of the total volume of commercial eating apples. It often replaces older varieties like the Cox's Orange Pippin. In Canada, the Gala became one of the top varieties by the 2020s, alongside the Ambrosia and Honeycrisp. This shift happened partly because the government of Nova Scotia subsidized producers to replace older McIntosh trees with higher-return varieties. Most Canadian Gala apples are grown in Ontario and British Columbia.

Even though apple seasons are naturally limited, Galas are available nearly all year round. This is made possible through cold storage and controlled atmosphere storage. In the Northern Hemisphere, the harvest typically runs from May through September. In the United Kingdom, the season begins in late summer. In Australia, the fruit is available starting in late January. Because of these storage technologies, consumers can enjoy the sweet flavor of a Gala regardless of the current season.