The Golden Delicious apple is a large, yellowish-green skinned cultivar and very sweet to the taste. It is prone to bruising and shrivelling, so it needs careful handling and storage.

This cultivar is a chance seedling, possibly a hybrid of Grimes Golden and Golden Reinette. The original tree was found on the Mullins' family farm in Clay County, West Virginia, United States and was locally known as Mullin's Yellow Seedling and Annit apple. Anderson Mullins sold the tree and propagation rights to Stark Brothers Nurseries for $5000, which first marketed it as a companion of their Red Delicious in 1914.

In 2010, an Italian-led consortium announced they had decoded the complete genome of the Golden delicious apple. It had the highest number of genes (57,000) of any plant genome studied to date.

The Golden Delicious was designated the official state fruit of West Virginia by a Senate resolution on February 20, 1995. Clay County has hosted an annual Golden Delicious Festival since 1972.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org