Apples

Oakwood Farm, our trusted local apple grower, keeps us in good supply for around two thirds of the year, from July when the first ‘earlies’ ripen, to late winter when the ‘storers’ eventually run out. Oakwood have twelve thousand trees including Cox, Egremont Russet, Fiesta, Ida Red, Spartan, Falstaff and Adams Pearmain varieties. We love comparing their characteristics and flavours, especially as we know just how much work goes into the literal fruit of the orchard workers’ labour. From January to March branches must be pruned and the soil underneath them manured, then every two weeks until the summer trees are sprayed with a seaweed derived feed. In September a team of pickers harvest the apples by the ton, packing them into wooden crates which are then kept safely at a controlled temperature. 

Whilst the hundreds and hundreds of British apple varieties should certainly be celebrated, and sought out over the limited options in supermarkets (often brought from the other side of the world during peak British season!) apples are not actually an indigenous descendent of the crab-apple as you might think. Apparently, we have Chinese bears to thank for over millions of years, slowly and unconsciously selecting the larger and sweeter fruits of something that was more like a hawthorn. 

Obviously, apples are a classic snack but their application extends far beyond this, from The Ploughman’s and the Tarte Tatin to a Waldorf salad or teamed up with celeriac in soup. 
We like dehydrating or gently baking thin slices to make chewy rings or crunchy crisps and the world of pies, crumbles, strudels, cakes and turnovers is ripe for the taking, not to mention the role of apples’ pectin in chutneys and jellies.

When we’ve munched through every apple from these shores we take advantage of Italy’s longer season before casting our net wider to meet customers’ need to keep that doctor at bay!