Reprinted from: Wilson, P.J. 2005. Apple varieties, RHS awards and eating quality. Newsletter of the Royal Horticultural Society Fruit Group 28: 8-9. May 2005. Revised 2009

 The amateur, in choosing apple varieties to grow, often gives a higher weighting to eating quality than to more commercial criteria such as crop yield or skin brightness. Eating quality is difficult to agree on since individual tastes vary, so in practice a consensus has to emerge before a new variety gains wide acceptance. For this reason, authors describing varieties that have not been commercialized, including traditional varieties, often avoid much commentary on eating quality.

 This article considers the extent to which the awards to plants by the Royal Horticultural Society, given to a total of 155 apple varieties over the last 150 years, reflect eating quality.

 Royal Horticultural Society awards

 The RHS Awards to Plants (2000) lists three main awards:

 First-Class Certificate (FCC), instituted in 1859: ‘to plants of outstanding excellence for exhibition’.

Award of Merit (AM), instituted in 1888: ‘to plants which are of great merit for exhibition’.

Award of Garden Merit (AGM), re-instituted in 1992: ‘to plants of outstanding excellence for garden decoration or use’.

 There is also the RHS Certificate of Preliminary Commendation (PC) instituted in 1931 ‘to a new plant of promise for exhibition’, and the Botanical Certificate instituted 1878 ‘to plants of exceptional botanical interest’, but these are not considered further. The criteria suggest that the FCC and AM should be considered separately from the AGM.

  The First Class Certificate and Award of Merit

 The FCC and AM are concerned with quality for ‘exhibition’, perhaps because most awards are given to ornamental plants whose primary purpose is to be exhibited, whether formally or informally. However, the word ‘exhibition’ in relation to apple varieties implies formal exhibition, in which only the external visual appearance of the fruit is judged. In this case, eating quality, cultural traits or the ornamental value of the tree is immaterial.

 In practice, such diverse traits were not discounted in the FCC and AM. The awards have always had a practical spirit, implying the recognition of all-round merit, although the emphasis may have varied between varieties. For example, the fruit of ‘Gascoigne’s Scarlet’ (FCC 1887) is particularly decorative, while ‘Barnack Beauty’ (AM 1899, FCC 1909) has unusually fine blossom. Generally, the FCC and AM were awarded to apple varieties many decades ago (Figures 1 and 2), when successful culture must also have reflected some resistance to pests and disease in the absence of chemical sprays.

 Figures 1 and 2 show that the AM increased in frequency as the FCC declined, suggesting an element of fashion. On the other hand, of 15 apple varieties with both the AM and the FCC, the FCC was awarded in a later year in 13 (and in the same year in the remaining two), suggesting that the FCC in these cases was an additional recognition of quality, as implied in the criteria.

 In total, 138 varieties noted by Morgan and Richards (1993) have received either the AM or the FCC or both. Of these, 35, 89 and 14 varieties were classified as culinary, dessert and dual-purpose respectively, and across these categories late varieties (n=82) were better-represented than earlies (n=24) or mid-season varieties (n=32).

 The Award of Garden Merit

 The AGM is for garden decoration or use, avoiding semantic difficulty over the word ‘exhibition’. Most of the varieties awarded the AGM between 1992 and 2000 (31 of 48 varieties) had already been awarded the AM, FCC or both. Of the 17 new varieties recognized by the AGM, some were recently introduced (eg. Alkmene, Delbarestival), some were venerable varieties formerly overlooked for an award (Blenheim Orange, Golden Noble), while at least one (Idared) was evidently selected on criteria not strongly weighted by eating quality, since this variety is known for its thick skin and (by most people’s estimation) weak flavour when grown in the U.K. Overall, apple varieties awarded the AGM are easy to grow, lacking susceptibility to pests/disease and having good yield and habit, as well as good eating quality.

 Conclusion

 The FCC and AM recognized good varieties at a time when amateur and commercial priorities were not dissimilar, and eating quality was important in both contexts. The extant AGM is generally more recent and is specifically for the amateur, for whom eating quality is as important as ever. Thus, there is probably little difference overall between the AM and FCC on the one hand and the AGM on the other, except that no varieties with the former arose recently – most arose over a century ago. All three awards integrate many cultural and ornamental traits, as well as eating quality, with the possibility, in all awards, of different emphases for different varieties.

  Reference

 Morgan, J. and Richards, A. (1993). The Book of Apples. The Ebury Press, London.

 The R.H.S. list of fruit varieties awarded the A.G.M can be found at:  http://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/documents/AGMfruit2005.pdf