Wairarapa’s world-conquering apple
If James Hutton Kidd was alive today, he might have the pip over the fortune he missed out on for creating one of the world’s most popular apples.
The 20th-century Greytown horticulturist came up with the gala variety, which is about to take top spot in the United States, and is on track to become the world’s favourite apple.
Back in the 1930s, Kidd blended varieties to create several winning combinations, including what was to become the Gala. But it wasn’t until the mid-1960s that another key figure in New Zealand’s apple story, Don McKenzie, named it and gave it a push.
Wairarapa historian and horticulture expert Gareth Winter said Kidd’s genius came from a great sense of which varieties would work together.
‘‘By crossing American varieties with English apples, he ended up with something that was still quite sweet but had a more complex flavour and stayed crisp,’’ Winter said.
The Greytown orchardist created the Kidd’s orange red, which he sold for £2000, but the variety that would go on to earn the New Zealand taxpayer millions was still waiting for its place in the sun.
Kidd died in 1945 but during World War II, he transferred his seedlings to the Government’s now-defunct Department of Scientific and Industrial Research fruit research section, two of which proved popular. One showed commercial potential and was later judged to be ‘‘outstanding’’ alongside 900 other apple varieties from around the world.
It was named gala by McKenzie in 1965 and released on to the market. Its popularity has grown ever since.
Gary Jones, of New Zealand Apples and Pears, said the Government had made ‘‘tens of millions’’ of dollars in royalties from the Gala and other varieties from its breeding programme, with millions of trees planted around the world. ‘‘There is still a revenue stream to the Government . . . and it will get bigger and bigger,’’ he said.
Of the 380,000 tonnes of apples exported from New Zealand this season, it is estimated 115,000 tonnes were royal gala.
Steve Meyrick, of Pinehaven Orchard in Greytown, is well aware that his orchard, which has been in his family for three generations, was where it all began. ‘‘He tinkered around and cross-pollinated lots of apples and came up with two or three good ones and one of those good ones, the gala apple, is now parent to . . . the pacific series, the jazzs and the eves.’’
Gala’s share of the world market, outside of China, is about 14 per cent. The United States Apple Association predicts royal gala will surpass red delicious by the end of the year, putting it on track for world domination in the next decade.
Steve Meyrick on James Hutton Kidd ‘‘He tinkered around and crosspollinated lots of apples and came up with two or three good ones . . .’’