Apples are a global commodity. But recent news of Morrisons in Kent selling Chinese Fuji apples during the British apple harvest season does provoke a few questions.
While I appreciate and support consumer choice and competitive prices, at a time of such seasonal glut is it really necessary to look further afield than our own shores to stock the shelves?
If you want to support British orchards, but enjoy the flavours of apples like Fuji, Gala and Braeburn, which originate from overseas, many of these major varieties are now grown in Britain - just check the labels to look for home-grown ones. But I'd encourage people to try new varieties, too. If you're shopping in a supermarket, apples such as Jazz, Cameo and Kanzi are of excellent quality and well worth keeping an eye out for. They have a long season, which means that they will still be on the shelf well into the spring. Then there are the classic English apples such as Cox, Worcester, Egremont Russet and Discovery, all discovered or bred in England and they all offer something different.
Should you venture away from the supermarket then your choices begin to multiply and now is the time to head out and start sampling. Visit farmers markets and apple days where you'll hopefully begin to scratch the surface of the 2200 or so apple varieties that we grow in this country. Ashmead's Kernel has a nutty taste to it, then there's the sweet and spicy Cornish Aromatic or the Pitmaston Pineapple, which tastes as the name suggests. Most have variety names which offer only a glimpse to past horticultural heroes that championed their cherished apple, from Laxton's Fortune to Veitch's Perfection and Bramley's Seedling. Others are named after places and some simply have evocative names such as Sweet Larks, Pig's Snout and Peasgood Nonsuch.
And there is a benefit to the environment. Orchards are great places for a whole range of wildlife from birds to bugs and mammals. Some British apple growers are able to use this wildlife to their advantage for tasks such as pollination, where the provision of habitat for insects such as bumble bees and hoverlflies is so successful that there has been no need to introduce working bee's to the orchard. This sensitive method of agriculture is the result of years of horticultural research and development in the UK; it enables our growers to successfully produce apples of the highest quality, envied by many countries and since adopted by them. This country is perfectly suited to grow apples and in buying British apples, you are supporting orchards which are an integral landscape feature for humans and nature alike, as well as enjoying home-grown fruit with no air miles!
But traditional apple orchards have declined by nearly 60% since the 1950s. At the National Trust, we've been working in partnership with several other organisations to undertake restoration work over the last couple of years to help protect heritage varieties and wildlife habitats. Alongside our partners, we were awarded £268,000 by Natural England to improve the condition and increase the extent of Traditional Orchards in England. Thanks to the funding, at Cotehele, we have planted a traditional orchard of 300 trees, including 120 local varieties of apple, and we have also restored a Victorian cider press. The fruit collection has been genetically fingerprinted to learn more about the Tamar varieties, and we have had recordings of nationally scarce invertebrates such as the apple tree lace bug. The project as a whole saw 2,888 trees of 329 different varieties planted, and surveys have put a name to 85 previously unknown varieties.
But apple growers also have the added challenge of trying to predict what we want to buy next. Unlike sowing seeds, apple trees need time to grow and become productive, so the grower is always trying to keep one step ahead of the game. With Cox's Orange Pippin falling out of favour, growers are having to decide now whether to replace these with another variety or whether they keep their fingers crossed and that the market picks up. So every British apple bought is a vote towards supporting our growers, and with such a rich and diverse heritage in apple growing and orchards, let's support our apple growers and buy British.
For more information about how to make the most of British apples this harvest, please go to www.foodgloriousfood.org.uk