From the Living Museum
Jonagold
- Origin
- Golden Delicious × Jonathan; bred at Geneva, New York (Cornell / NY State Agricultural Experiment Station); selected 1953, introduced 1968
- Era
- Selected 1953; introduced 1968
- Type / use
- Dessert · Dual-purpose
History & Stories
Large, attractive red fruit with crisp, juicy, high-quality sweet-tart flesh. Unique as an American-bred apple from Geneva, New York, that became especially popular in Europe and is now widely grown internationally 1. Triploid.
Folklore & Name
Golden Delicious × Jonathan, bred at Geneva, New York, and introduced in 1968; widely grown in Belgium and the Netherlands 1. Name blends the parents. Successful international dual-purpose/dessert apple.
Digging into the History
Below my own notes, here is what the old fruit books and today’s collections record about this apple, kept apart from the stories people tell.
What we know
Jonagold was bred in New York, not Europe. Cornell University's variety fact sheet says it was "developed by Cornell University's apple breeding program at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, NY. Selected in 1953 and introduced in 1968," under the test number NY 43013-1, with parents Golden Delicious × Jonathan 1. It was announced in a 1968 Geneva station circular by R.D. Way and colleagues 1.
The competing accounts
- Cornell University fact sheet 1: a product of Cornell's breeding program at Geneva, New York; Golden Delicious × Jonathan; selected 1953, introduced 1968.
- It is sometimes described as Belgian or Dutch, probably because it became so widely grown in Europe; the same fact sheet cites Dutch trial reports 1.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): Geneva, New York. The breeding station's own records are the primary source.
What we think: stories & traditions
American bred, European grown. The Cornell fact sheet's reference list includes Dutch research-station reports on Jonagold 1, a sign of how much interest it drew in Europe. That may be why it's sometimes described as a European apple. Its name simply joins its two parents.
It's an apple that crossed the Atlantic in the opposite direction from most of the old varieties in our apple collection.
Sources
- Cornell University, "Varieties of Commercial Interest: Jonagold" (fact sheet, NYS Agricultural Experiment Station). ecommons.cornell.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b6ccdd8e-d26f-4e18-a742-8a8aab6db2c8/content
Curious about Jonagold?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.