OUR ORGANIC APPLES
We primarily produce dessert apples. From the old favourites like Worcester Pearmain and Egremont Russet, to the more modern Gala, Braeburn, Estival and Early Windsor we aim to harvest the varieties tree ripened and at their prime over a two month period.
We also still grow a small orchard of the ‘King of Cookers', The Bramley. These huge, tree ripened golden apples combine a wonderful sweetness with great natural acidity; this gives additional complexity and depth of flavour to our apple juice, produced in partnership with The Felix Project and distributed by their London network. When stewed, our Bramleys break down to foaming perfection - the only filling for a crumble or a pie!
As with any perennial crop, the list of the pests and diseases of apples is myriad; most are hugely detrimental to tree health, yield and eating quality. The range and diversity of potential problems probably makes producing apples in the UK under a fully organic system the most demanding of all crops.
Since the late 1980's, we have attempted to fine-tune a system of producing a regular crop of organic apples of a commercial quality and yield. Our experience with our customers also influenced this development, as very few appeared to buy apples just because they were organically grown, but rather because they were organically grown versions of varieties that they already enjoyed.
This added to the problem, as most of the apples with the finest eating qualities had been bred for just that and they had no resistance to disease at all. The exception to this was the fabulous mid-season apple, the Worcester Pearmain bred by a Mr Hale in 1873 and the backbone of the industry for almost 100 years; it has a good resistance to Apple Scab.
We planted an orchard of Worcester Pearmain in 1988 and whilst we initially had mixed results, we have learned a great deal. After planting our Organic Concept Orchard in 2007 we gradually improved our success rate as organic management tools and inputs advanced culminating in record crops in 2009; 2010 produced a slightly smaller crop, but in both years, the fruit far exceeded previous years in both yield, finish and eating quality.
These lessons and nearly forty years of experience has enabled us to now grow all out fruit under a fully organic regime; it is harvested and distributed by London food charity The Felix Project
