Huaniu (花牛), also known as Chinese Red Delicious is an apple cultivar originating in China. It is named after Huaniu town, Tianshui, where it was first planted as a hybrid of ten varieties of apple trees, including Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and Ralls Janet in 1956.[1] In 1965, Huaniu farmers sent two boxes of apples to Chairman Mao to express their respect for him. Mao thanked the villagers, noting that he was very fond of the apple's taste. That same year, the apples were exported to Hong Kong. The name of the village of Huaniu was put on the box, and the apples were preferred over the US-imported Red Delicious. Since then, Huaniu apples have become well known in China.[2] The apple has a sweet taste comparable with Fuji apples.[3] The apples have a soluble solid contents of 12.5-14%, sugar content of 1.86%, and malic acid content of 0.08%.[4][5]
A variety of Huaniu apples called Black Diamond has a deep purple skin colour, owing to high ultraviolet light levels and lower temperature at night in its growing areas around Nyingchi, Tibet.[9]
^Xiaoying, Yao, et al. "Huaniu Apple in Southeast Gansu: The Correlation Between Yield and Quality and Meteorological Factors." Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin 4 (2018): 20.
^Xuqing, You, and Sun Wenxiang. "Business Performance Evaluation of Huaniu Apple Enterprise in Tianshui Maiji District Based DEA Method." Forestry Economic Review 2 (2014): 15.
^Xiaobo, Z., & Jiewen, Z. (2008). Comparative analyses of apple aroma by a tin-oxide gas sensor array device and GC/MS. Food Chemistry, 107(1), 120–128. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.07.071