Know your Apple, Know your Season
The great British Apple season is a long one. Different varieties ripen at different times of the year, and, but for a few months, native apples are available all year round for eating and cooking. British apples are most easily divided by their harvest season:
Earlies: August to early September. Varieties include: Beauty of Bath, Discovery, Feltham Beauty, George Cave
Mid-season: September to October. Varieties include: Alderman (culinary), Cox’s Orange Pippin, Lord Lambourne, Red Windsor
Late-season: October to December. Varieties include: Ashmead’s Kernel, Blenheim Orange, Laxton’s Superb, Egremont Russet, Red Falstaff
Extra late: December to May. Varieties include: Harry Masters, Kingston Black, Crispin
Ashmeade’s Kernel can be found in many orchards, and has flavour up there with the best.
T CELEBRATE
APPLE DAY! Sunday 21st October
Every year on the 21st October Apple Day celebrations take
place in various locations across the region. Take the
time to mix with some fellow apple-lovers of the fruit variety and enjoy a day out for all the family.
here is something so intangibly beautiful about the humble apple. It feels British to the core, and yet its history far outstretches that of what we commonly regard as Great Britain. Thought to originate from western Asia, apples were first brought to Europe by Alexander the Great, and then to the shores of Great Britain by the Romans. These ancient civilisations regarded the apple as a luxury item, and they were often used as a display of love or affection. “In Roman times, a man would offer a lady an apple as a sign of his love for her. If her hands stayed behind her back, he knew she didn’t feel the same” said Robin Small of Charlton Orchards, Somerset.
The apple pops up continuously in both ancient and modern day history, as well as religion, underlining its importance through the ages. In Greek mythology, Gaia, or Mother Earth, presented a tree with golden apples to Zeus and his bride Hera on their wedding day. Abrahamic religions recount the story of the Garden of Eden, and the temptation of the forbidden fruit, widely depicted in Western art as an apple, in no small part due to the irresistible pun suggested by the Latin malum, which means both "apple" and "evil." The sacred island mentioned in the tales of King Arthur, Avalon or Abalon, roughly translates as “apple orchard”. Even in science, Sir Isaac Newton had the apple to thank for inspiring his Theory of Gravitation, which was based around the observation of an apple falling
12 | THE WESTCOUNTRY FOODLOVER
from a tree not far from his countryside home. So what of the modern day apple? Most would
now regard it as something of a lunchbox stalwart, a healthy alternative to something more exotic. But while many of the romantic connotations have faded, the apple retains an air of mystery despite being a worldwide commodity. Here in the South West, one’s imagination is still captured by variety names such as Ashmead's Kernel and Orleans Reinette, while sunny days would not be complete without an orchard walk or the possibility of finding a few hanging apples on an unguarded tree. We owe the Romans much. How unimaginable the countryside here in the region would be were there no apple trees, no orchards, no blossom. A mention must also go to Henry VIII, who instructed his fruiterer to establish large scale orchards in Kent after the Black Death, War of the Roses and repeated drought almost brought apple growing here in the UK to a halt. The national apple collection, which contains more than 650 varieties of native apple tree, is now housed a stone’s throw away in Brogdale, Kent. But as apples have become such a worldwide commodity, so they have changed. As of 2007, only 30% of apples consumed in Great Britain were native varieties. “Most of today’s modern-day varieties, if you strip away the initial sweetness and acidity, have no depth to their flavour” notes Robin. “A good apple should have something distinctive, something else…something special.” And Robin should
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