Apples are good

There are so many angles to Apples I am not sure where to begin?  I have been looking at varieties, prices, British, health, history, folklore, recipes.... 


I have decided to kick off with varieties which in itself is an extensive amount of info.

The most common British varieties

Cox

Widely regarded as the finest of all English eating apples due to its superb flavour and aroma. Available from mid-September until early April. The variety represents about 60% of the total volume of the commercial production of eating apples grown in UK.

Bramley

Regarded as the finest culinary apple due to its unrivalled taste and texture after cooking. Bramley has a unique ability to retain its taste during cooking and when cooked its texture becomes wonderfully light and airy. It is only grown in Britain and is available throughout the year. Bramley represent more than 95% of apples sold for home cooking and about the same proportion of all cooking apples grown in UK.

Worcester Pearmain

This is a second early apple with a distinctive taste. It is available from late August until late September.

Spartan

An apple with a smooth crimson skin which quickly develops a natural bluish bloom. It is available from late September until early December.

Gala

A relatively new introduction to the UK which was first planted in commercial volumes during the 1980s. Available from late September until early March. The variety represents about 20% of the total volume of the commercial production of eating apples grown in UK.

Egremont russet

Russets are very distinctive apples both in terms of appearance and taste. This variety is by far the most important russet grown commercially in UK and it is available from late September until early February. The variety represents about 6% of the total volume of the commercial production of eating apples grown in UK.

Other popular Varieties from around the world

Golden delicious

Undoubtedly one of the most important apple varieties of the 20th century, both as a commercial variety in its own right, and as breeding stock for many other varieties. Very good flavor when home-grown. Golden Delicious is now planted in all the major warm apple growing areas of the world. Golden Delicious can grow well in the UK provided you have a warm and sheltered microclimate.

Granny Smith

Perhaps the most instantly recognisable of all apple varieties and one of the most widely known, Granny Smith is also one of Australia's most famous exports. The variety was used by the Beatles as the logo for their company 'Apple Records'. Granny Smith was one of the original staple supermarket varieties, and one of the first international varieties, a role for which it was well suited. The tough skin and amazing keeping qualities meant it could easily be shipped around the world. It requires a warm climate to ripen properly, and performs well in the main apple-growing regions of the southern hemisphere.  In the northern hemisphere it is grown in France and the warmer zones of North America.

Pink Lady (also known as Cripps Pink)

Perhaps more than any other modern apple, Pink Lady® epitomises the trend towards product marketing and branding in the sale of apples. Pink Lady® was one of the first apples to be marketed under a specific brand name rather than by its variety name. The variety is grown under licence, and then marketed through licenced resellers to the supermarkets. This tight control is intended to keep quality high, and it is portrayed as a premium product. Pink Lady® requires a very long growing period and a hot climate, and hence is only grown in the warmer apple-growing regions of South Africa, USA, southern Europe - and of course Australia. Pink Lady even have a Uk website  which does not once mention they are grown in Australia, New Zealand and US! The http://www.apple-pinklady.com/.COM website even has a BLOG and a Fan Club.

Pink lady are even taking Valentines day abd the world as their own:

This is repeated in several langauges

The Pink lady alliance

An article from their newsletter:

Pink LadyAssociations’ News

United Kingdom

Pink Lady®‘The Vitality Apple’

Visitors to last week’s Vitality Show at London’s Earls Court were treated to free samples of the celebrated Pink Lady® apple when they attended the eye-catching stand, complete with apple trees and a pink Mini clubman.

The show is the largest UK event for women and is a leading authority on health, beauty, fitness, wellbeing and healthy eating – making it the perfect environment to showcase the ‘champagne’ apple which contains just 50 calories.

Over 20,000 Pink Lady® apples were handed out across the duration of the show and Andy Macdonald, Managing Director of Coregeo, the master licensor for Pink Lady® apples in the UK commented: We know that when people try Pink Lady®, they become instant converts to the brand and feedback from the Vitality show is testament to this. Sampling is imperative for showcasing the brand to an audience who will have grown up on Golden Delicious and Cox and the Vitality show was the perfect.

The sampling team from TRO told the Pink Lady® story, each apple is grown on the tree for 200 days, and explained the qualities and growing techniques which make Pink Lady® a premium apple.

Visitors who flocked to the stand were also given the chance pick an ‘apple’ leaflet from one of the display trees which invited them to join the Pink Lady® club online for a chance to win pink ipod shuffles.

Pink Lady® apples are enjoying a surge in popularity after recent revelations from a number of celebrities such as Kate Garraway, Carey Mulligan and Kelly Osborne that cited apples as their secret beauty weapon.

Pink Lady® apples are sold by every major high street retailer and have a 9% share in value of the total UK apple market, which is similar to both Golden Delicious and Cox.

Sales of Pink Lady® apples are already showing a healthy year on year increase in 2010.

Braeburn

Braeburn was the first of the new wave of bi-colored supermarket apple varieties, and re-established the importance of flavor in commercial apples. t originated in New Zealand in the 1950s, and by the last decades of the 20th century had been planted in all the major warm apple-growing regions of the world.  Braeburn accounts for 40% of the entire apple production of New Zealand. 

According to UK government DEFRA statistics, in July 1994 there were about 194 hectares of Braeburn orchards in the UK - compared with 669 hectares for Gala and more than 3,000 hectares for Cox.  Even early varieties with little shelf-life such as Discovery (300 hectares) and Worcester Pearmain (213 hectares) are grown more extensively than Braeburn.  Whilst UK supermarkets are under some pressure to source apples from within the UK, it is perhaps questionable whether growing varieties like Braeburn, which are not really suited to the UK climate, is the best solution.  However, to partly contradict this view, another view is that the marginal UK climate can actually produce better flavour in an apple compared to ones grown in more temperate European climates (notably France or Italy).  On balance we think the main problem with UK-grown Braeburn is not so much the lack of sunlight, but the shorter growing season.