British apples are not just for eating....

Apples sourced in Britain

An interesting article about British orchards in The Guardian

It’s crunch time for the English apple

'Apple and other tree-fruit farming has been in free fall since the 1970s when the opening of the European markets initiated Le Crunch: the flood into the UK of cheaper imported apples like Golden Delicious, which with its low price, unblemished looks and long shelf life tempted supermarket shoppers away from characterful English types. After these came the super-apples from the US and China, such as Pink Lady and Fuji, to spoil us with a juicy, perpetual autumn. China now has 4.6 million acres of orchards, producing 20 million tonnes each year, compared with our 150,000 tonnes. The “grubbing” of traditional, mature British orchards has seen over 50 per cent of them lost and the land used to grow subsidy-rich arable crops.'

This made me realise that Apple Orchards are not just about eating

and cooking apples but also apples grown for Cider!