Crunch time for apple fans
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CAN still remember the attacks of the collywobbles brought on as a small boy by eating unripe apples. But when the fruit reach full size and look appetising the temptation to pick and eat a few straight from the tree is immense.
It’s easy to get it wrong. Of course you can cook them – with plenty of sugar, for pies and puddings – but most eating apples (and all cooking apples) need to spend a lot more time on the tree yet.
The sort that are stored and kept to use in winter when they’ve continued to ripen to the peak of their eating quality should be left until October before picking.
But for anyone who can’t wait to tuck in there are several superb early varieties that are ready to eat straight from the tree now.
They are ideal for gardeners who are impatient to sample results or who don’t have somewhere to store fruit so look out for them if you’re shopping for apple trees to plant this autumn.
The earliest is Beauty of Bath, an old favourite dating back to 1864, yellow with a reddish blush and a sweet taste livened up by a sharp fruity tang, at its best for a few weeks around the start of next month. George Cave is another classic, though rare these days.
It has crisp, medium-sized apples with green and red stripes, which some enthusiasts start to eat from the end of July, though officially mid-August is its best time.
Discovery is a deservedly popular small, sweet, red, crunchy, modern apple that’s a great favourite, ready to eat from late August to the middle of September, and Worcester Pearmain has similar colouring. It’s a sweet, conical, aromatic fruit, though a tad small, and is ready to eat in September.
Although it’s not technically an early apple, if you want a cracker for eating fresh from the tree in October go for Egremont Russet.
Don’t be put off by the buffbrown suede-textured skin.
Inside is one of the nicest, crispest, nuttiest apples around and all the better when it’s not kept in a shop or a fruit bowl for a few days. Just try it and see. VEN if you grow a range of apples, including cookers and keepers to store for winter, make sure one of them is an “early” so you don’t have to wait too long for your first taste of the season. It’s so special.
Find early varieties in garden centres, fruit specialists such as Ken Muir and by visiting “apple days” promoted by orchards, growers and nurseries where you can taste fruit before deciding which trees you’re going to buy.