Fruit farmers explain their core values
NOTHING SAYS Rosh Hashanah more than the humble apple. And, as luck would have it, we grow really good apples here in the UK and this year’s festival sits slap bang in the middle of apple-picking season. But how can you ensure that you get fruit worthy of bringing in a new year?
Ivor Kiverstein, of Tullens Fruit Farm in Sussex, says: “An apple does a huge amount of ripening in the last week on the tree. If you pick them too soon, they have less time to get that sweetness. The best way to enjoy apples is straight from the tree.”
David Josephs, co-owner of Panzers, the St John’s Wood deli-greengrocer, agrees: “If you bite into a just-picked apple, the taste is totally different than apples that have been refrigerated for a long time.”
Kiverstein and Josephs both assure me that it is always best to choose British.
“We grow 2,600 varieties of apples in the UK, all of which can be found at the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale in Kent,” says Josephs. It’s a bit like Kew but for fruit trees. They are the guardians of Britain’s native apples and pears and have two trees of each variety.
“We get a lot of our apples during the UK season from Brogdale and about 85 per cent of our apples are grown here in the UK.”
According to Josephs, some of his customers prefer French apple varieties such as Golden Delicious, which is the only reason he stocks a foreign apple during the UK apple-picking season. We are all familiar with varieties such as Gala from the supermarket. You can find Galas all year round in one or other part of the world.
They are harvested in Europe in autumn, Chile in the summer and New Zealand in spring. This allows supermarkets to consistently sell the same sort of apple, year round. But you will find many other varieties if you are able to visit small growers.
“There are two types of farm,” says Kiverstein, “those that grow high volumes of a standard-looking product and throw away or juice any that do not fit the spec, and small, niche farms that grow a range of varieties which ripen in succession, which allows them to keep producing apples throughout the season.”
Kiverstein’s farm is the latter and he says this means he can produce fresh apples for six months.
“We can then keep some varieties in cold storage for three to four months before their taste and texture starts to deteriorate, giving us an extended selling season.”
The apple season starts at the end of August with the Discovery, which has a pretty pink flesh and is a sweet, juicy apple. It does not keep for long though, says Kiverstein, and is best eaten off the tree if you can.
As August turns into September, the Worcester Pearmain and Lord Lambourne varieties start to ripen. “The Worcester is another sweet apple with a short shelf life and the Lord Lambourne is the first of the sharper apples with a bit of a bite.”
From the middle to the end of September the Cox’s Orange Pippin is available — “This is the most traditional and flavourful apple but it doesn’t have much colour, so is not as popular with the public,” says Kiv er stein. “People prefer a more colourful apple.”
Another September apple is theEg remont Russett, which he says has virtually gone out of fashion.
“It is a brown, funny-feeling apple, which has a creamy, nutty flavour but people don’t like how it looks.”
With the slightly later timing of the High Holy-days this year, there will be more of a nip in the air and different varieties of fruits and vegetables for our Yomtov meals.
This is perfect timing for apples, as the Egremont Russetts and Cox’s Orange Pippins will be in their prime. If you want to ring the changes this Rosh Hashanah, Kiverstein sells them at his Sussex farm or, closer to home, he recommends looking in farmers’ markets.
Panzers (and sister greengroceries Clifton Greens, Newington Green and Parkway Greens) all stock a range of English apples and for those in Hertfordshire, it is worth a trip to Shenley Park, where they grow more than 200 varieties of apples on 400 trees.
Michael Handscombe, estate manager, says that visitors will find a range of cooking and eating apples, plus “duals”, which are on the sharper side but work for both cooking or eating. Shenley Park mostly presses its apples for juice but does sell them at the Orchard too.
In mid-October every year it holds its annual Apple Day, selling many of its apple varieties as well as its own juice.
Handscombe warns that this year will not be a bumper year: “The blossom is what governs how well our trees produce. The blossom came too early as it was warm, then was killed by the frost, which in turn means a bad year for fruit.”
Bag your fruits nice and early, so you can enjoy the real deal this Rosh Hashanah.
The New Year is ideally timed for Egremont Russetts and Cox’s Orange Pippins’