A case of mistaken identity
It all started when Darrel Caudle planted a new apple tree in his orchard in Dryden, WA, near Wenatchee. As the tree grew, he noticed that the apples were different from all the others. Instead of the solid color he was expecting, they were striped red with a cream background.
One taste of the flavorful, crunchy flesh and the tender, thin skin of this orchard interloper and he knew for absolute sure that this was a completely different apple than the others in his orchard!
Little did Darrel imagine at the time that the fruit from his “chance seedling” would grow into an apple so revolutionary that he would later register it for a trademark and name it “Cameo.”
Today all Cameo trees are descended from Darrel’s seedling, which is still producing fruit in his hillside orchard. This family of trees is an industry celebrity, drawing apple aficionados, growers and nurserymen from all over the world to see the very first Cameo planting that started the whole new variety that would become America’s new favorite apple.