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Salish
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
n. & adj. — proprietary, Flora, Agriculture, especially British Columbia
a variety of apple developed in British Columbia with mostly red and some yellow skin (see Image 1).
Type: 1. Origin — The Salish apple was developed in British Columbia's Okanagan Plant Improvement Corporation (PICO) and is a protected trade name. This apple, which is "tangy, sweet sub-acid in taste, juicy and very crisp", is the result of a cross-pollination between the Gala and Splendour apple varieties (see PICO reference and the 2012 quotations). See also CFIA reference.
The apple was first known as SPA 493, but was released in 2012 under the name Salish at the UBC Apple Festival (see the first 2012 quotation), named after the First Nations whose territories are in the southern part of the province (the Coast Salish and Interior Salish peoples). At present (2013), the term is almost exclusive to Canada (see Chart 1).
The apple was first known as SPA 493, but was released in 2012 under the name Salish at the UBC Apple Festival (see the first 2012 quotation), named after the First Nations whose territories are in the southern part of the province (the Coast Salish and Interior Salish peoples). At present (2013), the term is almost exclusive to Canada (see Chart 1).
Quotations
2007
PICO is owned by the B.C. Fruit Growers' Association, and its mandate is to manage and commercialize new varieties of fruit developed locally, such as by breeders at the federal Pacific Agri-food Research Centre.
It launched the Born in B.C. program last fall and began to promote the new Salish and aurora golden gala varieties of apples, bred at PARC in Summerland.
2012
After 31 years, Salish apple ready for its market debut; Careful cross-pollination creates a fruit that combines the light, sweet, long-storing qualities of its parents with a tart twist
The apple is a rosy red on a yellow background with pale yellow flesh and a unique tangy flavour.
Formerly known as SPA-493, it is in markets for the first time this week, 31 years after it was selectively bred from its parent varieties, the light, sweet Gala and the long-storing Splendour.
Its name is Salish.
Scientists at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Summerland collected pollen from the male apparatus in the blossoms of a Splendour tree and applied it to emasculated blossoms of a Gala back in 1981. They ended up with more than 800 unique cross-bred varieties from that single pollination, one of many they conduct each year.
The apples that grew from that controlled pollination were all Galas - like their mother - but each seed contained a jumble of traits and genes from both parents.
Only one would become the Salish.
[...]
Right from the start, apples are rated for their flavour, texture and appearance and quickly discarded if they show flaws, said Hampson. To ensure that the apple will succeed in B.C., it also needs to ripen before the autumn frost and not overlap the harvesting period of the growers' other apples.
"The apple also has to store well, because we need to be able to eat these apples months and months after they are picked," she explained. Apples that survive the six-week storage test - remaining tasty and firm - survive and go to the next round, a series of tasting panels. The rest are discarded along with the trees that bore them.
The Salish survived and thrived, but it was not alone.
About 20 apples made it through the first rounds of cuts, an unusually good result.
2012
The new apple variety, named Salish, was introduced at UBC's annual apple festival in early October. Previously known as SPA493, the Salish apple was created from a cross-pollination made in the early 1980s between Splendour and Gala varieties.
A press release from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada noted Salish is a medium-sized apple with thin skin.
The texture is crispy, firm and tangy. Its appearance is 80 per cent solid cherry-red blush over a yellow base colour. The release notes that the Salish apple variety is Canadian and non-genetically modified. The development of the new variety was led by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers at the Pacific Agri-Food Centre in Summerland, working closely with the Okanagan Plant Improvement Corporation to test it with growers. Salish is grown by orchardists in the Okanagan Valley and is harvested in mid to late October.
2013
PICO is currently the agent for some of the most successful new tree fruit varieties in the world, including the Ambrosia apple and Staccato cherry.
PICO is also agent for promising new varieties such as the Salish apple, which was released in 2012, and the Sentennial cherry variety.
2013
The growers of two varieties of apples that were first known as SPA493 and 8S6923 and then introduced to consumers as Salish and Aurora Golden Gala are now receiving Buy Local program funds to help promote these products.
[...]
The Salish apple is medium sized with a pinkish red blush over a yellow background colour. The flavour is tangy, juicy and very crisp.
2016
This has to be one of the prettiest apples I’ve ever seen and it’s absolutely brand new.
The fully trade-marked Salish apple was announced and launched in October, 2012 by The Honourable Ron Cannan, Member of Parliament for Kelowna-Lake Country, on behalf of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. He revealed the name of the newest apple on the market today at the annual University of British Columbia (UBC) Apple Festival . “When you taste the Salish apple(…) you are sampling the sweet rewards of many years of research and investments in innovation that will pay off for the farmers that grow this tasty achievement.”
References
- PICO • SPA493 (Salish™)
- CFIA • SPA493
Images
Image 1: Salish apples (Photo: G. Lim )
