Half of our favourite apple crops wiped out

ALMOST half the crop of Britain’s two favourite homegrown apples have been wiped out because of the poor spring weather.

Cox’s and the pie-stalwart Bramley have suffered due to frost after overnight temperatures in April routinely dropped below zero.

Across the range of UK-grown varieties, the harvest is likely to be down by around 10 per cent, according to trade organisation British Apples and Pears.

Chairman Ali Capper said the loss was ‘disappointing’, especially because growers had planted extra crops this year to boost the market share for homegrown apples.

She added: ‘Cox’s and Bramley are worst affected because they are early flowering varieties which flower in April and that is when we had 20 nights below minus 2C.

‘The frost killed the flowers and reduced the yield.’ Home cooks who rely on Bramleys are likely to be most affected, as the majority of the variety is grown in Britain.

A Bramleys crop is grown in Ireland but that fruit is mainly used for apple juice.

Despite the disappointing harvest, other varieties have managed to do well, including Gala, Jazz, Cameo and Kanzi, because they are not as susceptible to cold weather.

Overall, the total British apple crop is likely to match the 191,000 tons harvested last year, worth £158 million.

But growers had planted an extra ten per cent for this season, hoping to boost the share of homegrown apples from 40 to 60 per cent within the next decade.