Opal

[ciderman]

I have just tried some Opal apples that are supposedly only grown on an orchard here in Washington state. Looks like a Golden Delicious, but doesn't taste like one! Very juicy, and a great combination of sweet and tart. Supposed to be a Golden Delcious X Topaz. Only being sold in the local market for a limited time to test market. What a great tasting apple - I want to find a tree to plant in my orchard!

[Fruitella]

Is the variety patented in any way?

[ciderman]

I don't know that it is patented, but may be trademarked. I have scoured the internet, and cannot find any trees for sale anywhere. They would definitely be worth getting. If you can find them in a store, try some!

[dmtaylor]

Opal apples are fantastic. This is another one of those special release apples, sort of like SweeTango or Lady Alice, where special licenses (or similar) are required to grow and there are a limited number available, so there's only a handful of growers, at least for the first few years. But I can vouch for its worth -- Opal is indeed a very exciting dessert apple. I found it to be very sweet, but with just enough acid to keep it from being cloying, and a very pleasant apricot-like flavor that lingers long into the aftertaste. Crisp, crunchy, juicy. Very very good.

[OrangePippin-Richard]

Opal is indeed a restricted and patented variety:

Community Plant Variety Rights EU 16749 from 30. 01. 2006
United States patent PP 15,963 from 13. 09. 2005 as UEB 3264/2

However they don't seem to have realised there is already an apple called Opal, developed in the 1930s in England, and listed in the UK national fruit collection.