Our expert tells how we can get re-acquainted with our native varieties of apple

The time is ripe to get acquainted with our overlooked varieties of late-fruiting apples. Author and all-round apple expert Pete Brown reports from the orchard

here are three points in each calendar year when I’d rather be standing in an apple orchard than anywhere else in the world. The first – and perhaps most unlikely – is mid-january, when the ancient and recently revived rites of wassail are performed. The trees are reawakened from their winter slumbers, and evil spirits are driven from their branches by shotguns, the banging of pots and pans, and sacrifices of cider given to their roots.

The second is blossom-time in early May. The wizened black skeletons of winter are transfigured into young brides decked in stately white and blushing pink, petals flowing like confetti on a breeze that, for the first time in months, no longer carries ice into your bones. But my favourite time in the orchard is Apple Day in October. If the wassail worked and the seasons have been kind, the early promise of May has bloomed into a ripe bounty that delights the senses and stirs something that’s been rooted in the soul ever since humans first understood the concept of the passing of seasons and the importance of a good harvest in surviving the next winter.

Apple Day, on 21 October, or the closest Saturday to it, is largely responsible for preserving the variety our orchards display. It was started 20 years ago by Sue King and Angela Clifford, co-founders of the conservation charity Common Ground. The first one was in London’s Covent Garden and it’s now become an annual ritual in more than 600 parishes, when revellers visit orchards across the country to merry-make beneath branches bowed with ripe fruit. There are apple tastings, juicing demonstrations and market stalls brimming

with jellies, chutneys and baked goods. We have lost some 63 per cent of our orchards since the 1950s – Apple Day is an opportunity to celebrate the many overlooked varieties of native apple that remain.

BEYOND THE BRAEBURN

In the UK, we once grew a wider range of apples than anywhere in the world: now we import more than 70 per cent of those that we eat. The dozen or so options stocked in shops are an insignificant fraction of the 7,000 named apple cultivars worldwide, and the 2,700 recorded in Britain. In the supermarket, you’ll see a few shades of green contrasting with the deep, alluring ruby of the Red Delicious. Gala and Braeburn (both imports from New Zealand) make up almost half of British sales. But visit a traditional orchard at harvest-time and you’ll see a riot of colour bursting from the branches: shades of gold, orange, scarlet, ruby and violet. Long rows of Kingston Black the size of golf balls stud each curved branch on one tree, while grapefruit-sized Bramleys weigh down the next. Some, like Yellow Ingestrie, are solid blocks of colour. Others, like Delbarestivale, are more subtly shaded. Delbarestivale has rose-tinted blushes, while Cox’s Orange Pippin sports tiger-like stripes. Apple Day, when many orchards open their gates, is your best opportunity to find them. Otherwise, you may be lucky enough to find some in your local farm shop.

Apart from showcasing the diversity of our orchards, Sue King and Angela Clifford also sought to draw attention to their broader worth. Orchards are a perfect fusion of nature and

culture – beautiful environments cultivated by careful human stewardship. And in traditional orchards, where the ground remains undisturbed for years, there remain rich ecosystems that intensive, monocultural farming destroys – home to rare species such as the lesser spotted woodpecker and mistletoe moth. The loss of our orchards has contributed to a dramatic drop in biodiversity, as well as varieties available.

EARLY VS LATE HARVEST

Harvesting starts with the early fruits, such as Laxton’s Epicure or the aptly named Scrumptious, from the end of July. These are crisp and sweet, if a little one-dimensional in character. In recent years, this has been what shoppers go for. The most popular varieties in supermarkets today – Gala, Jazz and Pink Lady – are bred to taste like fruit picked in summer rather than autumn.

Varieties harvested later have more time to mellow and mature. Picked from October, those such as Cox’s Orange Pippin or Golden Russet develop a depth of character, with notes of honey or spice. Spending months longer on the branch, particularly as the weather begins to turn, means their shine may be dulled and they develop the rough, red-brown carapace known as russet. These days, we buy with