Scilate

A late apple from a 1985 Havelock North cross; in 2025 the second-largest share of New Zealand's apple exports

Scilate at the National Fruit Collection, Brogdale. National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, via Wikimedia Commons. Source; Open Government Licence v2.0.

Origin: Havelock North, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, 1985
Raised by: Allan White
Parentage: Royal Gala × Braeburn Tenroy, a more highly coloured sport of Gala, as female parent and Braeburn as male parent, as recorded in the US patent and the Canadian rights record. Breeders' records; no DNA check among the sources read.
Uses: Dessert
Picked: April and May, in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
Keeps: At least three months in cool air storage at 0 °C (US patent)
Skin: Smooth, with a yellow ground about 70 per cent covered by red stripes over a solid red flush; obvious lenticels and some russet
Flesh: Cream, firm to very firm, crisp and juicy
Flavour: Sweet, with a hint of acidity
Also called: A022R29T022
Sold as: Envy (a trade mark)

History

Scilate comes from a cross made in 1985 at Havelock North, in Hawke’s Bay, between Tenroy, a more highly coloured sport of Gala, as the seed parent and Braeburn as the pollen parent^1,2,6. Plant & Food Research dates the cross to the spring of 1985 and says that it also produced Scifresh³. The seeds germinated in 1986 and the seedlings were planted out in an orchard in 1988; one of them, numbered A022R29T022, was selected for its fruit in 1992 and budded onto MM106 rootstocks^1,2. After further evaluation in 1999 it was propagated for the national collection and planted in trial blocks and growers’ orchards². The breeder was Allan White^1,2.

Plant & Food Research applied for a United States plant patent in 2008 and received it in 2009¹. New Zealand granted plant variety rights under number 2924, and Canada granted rights in 2018 that run to 2043². The institute licensed Scilate and Scifresh to T&G Global, which markets their fruit under the trade marks Envy and Jazz respectively; it has reached consumers in more than 55 countries³.

By Stats NZ figures, Scilate made up 14.7 per cent of New Zealand’s apple exports in 2025, second only to the Gala sport, at 19.9 per cent^4,6. It is also grown in South Tyrol, in northern Italy, where it covered 539 hectares in 2024 and 582 in 2025, about 3 per cent of the province’s apple and pear orchards⁵.

The fruit

The fruit described in the patent, from four-year-old trees in Hawke’s Bay in 2004–05, is medium-sized, about 81 mm wide, 69 mm high and 227 g, globose-conical and weakly ribbed¹. The smooth skin has a yellow ground, about 70 per cent covered by red stripes over a solid red flush, with obvious lenticels; small patches of russet may form on the cheek, around the stalk and eye, and on the lenticels¹. The cream flesh is firm, crisp and juicy, with a “sweet flavour with a hint of acidity” and 14 per cent soluble solids at harvest¹. In the New Zealand trials of 2008–10 the fruit was large to very large and conic, with a whitish-green ground and very firm flesh². It is a dessert apple¹.

In Hawke’s Bay the tree flowers from about 5 October, and the fruit is picked from about 19 April for some three weeks, later than Braeburn, the Gala sport and Scifresh^1,2. It keeps for at least three months in cool air storage at 0 °C, and stays in good condition for at least 14 days at 20 °C¹.

Growing

The tree is spreading and crops regularly, with good fruit size and yield¹. The patent advises winter pruning to open the canopy, thinning in late spring and posts and wires to keep young trees from breaking; because the fruit is prone to russet, sprays should go on in conditions that do not cause it¹. It has no known resistance to pests or diseases, and crops better with cross-pollination; the patent suggests the Gala sport, Red Delicious and Granny Smith as pollinators¹. Its ploidy had not been determined when the patent was filed, though it was thought “likely to be diploid”¹.

Where the sources disagree

Vigour and bearing. The patent describes a tree of medium vigour bearing on spurs and shoots¹; the New Zealand trials of 2008–10 found medium to strong vigour and fruit on spurs only².

Family tree

Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, as the entries in the atlas record them.

Scilate New Zealand, 1985
- Seed parent Royal Gala New Zealand, 1971
  - Sport of Gala New Zealand, about 1934
    - Parent Kidd's Orange Red New Zealand, 1924
    - Parent Golden Delicious United States, 1905
- Pollen parent Braeburn New Zealand, by 1952
  - Parent Delicious United States, 1872
    - Parent Winesap United States, by 1817
  - Parent Sturmer Pippin United Kingdom, by 1831
    - Pollen parent Nonpareil France, by the mid 1500s

Where Scilate came from. The lines lead to its parents: Braeburn (New Zealand).

Sources

US Plant Patent 20,477: Apple tree variety named 'Scilate', Allan G. White, for The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research; United States Patent and Trademark Office, via Google Patents, 2009-11-10. Supports: Scilate from a cross made in 1985 at Havelock North of the sport of Gala patented as US Plant Patent 4,121 ("female parent") and Braeburn ("male parent"); Allan G. White as inventor; filed by Plant & Food Research in 2008 and granted on 10 November 2009; buds from the original seedling worked on MM106; harvest later than the Gala sport, Braeburn and Scifresh; observations of four-year-old trees at Havelock North in 2004–05; flowering from about 5 October for two weeks; harvest "from about 19 April" for "around three weeks" in Hawke's Bay; fruit medium, 81 mm wide, 69 mm high and 227 g, globose-conical, weakly ribbed; smooth skin, yellow ground, about 70% overcolour of red stripes over a solid red flush, medium lenticels and possible small amounts of russet on the cheek, stem basin, eye cavity and lenticels; flesh firm (10.8 kgf), crisp and juicy, cream; "sweet flavour with a hint of acidity", 14% soluble solids; use dessert; stores well in air at 0 °C for at least 3 months and keeps in good condition for at least 14 days at 20 °C; late season, regular cropping, good fruit size and yield; a spreading tree of medium vigour bearing on spurs and shoots; winter pruning, thinning in late spring and posts and wires for young trees; prone to russet, so sprays applied in conditions that do not induce it; no known resistances to pests and diseases; better cropping with cross-pollination, with the Gala sport, Red Delicious and Granny Smith suggested as pollinators; ploidy "not readily available" but "likely to be diploid".
Scilate (plant breeders' rights application 12-7532), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Plant Breeders' Rights Office. Supports: holder The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research; breeder Allan White, Havelock North; the controlled cross of 1985 with the Gala sport as female parent and Braeburn as male parent; seeds germinated in 1986, seedlings planted in an orchard in 1988; seedling A022R29T022 selected for its fruit qualities in 1992 and propagated on MM106; further evaluation in 1999, then propagation for the national collection, trial blocks and growers' orchards; New Zealand plant variety rights grant 2924, its examination trial run at Havelock North in 2008–10; Canadian rights granted on 16 November 2018 and ending on 16 November 2043; large to very large conic fruit, ripening very late, larger and later than Scifresh; whitish-green ground with a striped red flush; very firm cream flesh; a tree of medium to strong vigour, spreading, bearing on spurs only.
Crafting a crunch – 40 years of apple innovation, Plant & Food Research (Bioeconomy Science Institute), 2025-11-04. Supports: one breeding cross, made "in the spring of 1985" at the institute's Hawke's Bay research orchard, that produced both Scifresh and Scilate; T&G Global as the commercial partner that licensed the two varieties and markets their fruit as Jazz and Envy apples, in that order; the fruit of the two reaching consumers in more than 55 countries.
Fresh Facts 2025, pp. 16–17: Sector profile – apples, United Fresh New Zealand, 2025. Supports: apple exports by variety in 2025, from Stats NZ export data accessed on 19 August 2025: Scilate, listed as Envy, 14.7%, second to the Gala sport, listed under its commercial name, at 19.9%.
Agrar- und Forstbericht 2025, p. 41: Bestand der wichtigsten Apfel- und Birnensorten in Südtirol, Autonome Provinz Bozen – Südtirol, Abteilung Landwirtschaft, 2026. Supports: Scilate on 539 ha (3%) of South Tyrol's apple and pear orchards in 2024 and 582 ha (3%) of 17,491 ha in 2025.
Royal Gala (accession 1979-047), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: "a more highly coloured clone of Gala", with the synonym Tenroy, the name used here for the sport.