Where are all our English apples?

John Simpson, I concur. I was in Tesco saturday. I could buy apples from New Zealand, South Africa, Chile and Poland. The only English apple in sight was one and it was of the cooking variety. And they're all in plastic bags for our convenience. Tesco have it all wrong, wrong, wrong. I'm not bothered about a million choices, I'm bothered about buying local or at least British. And I don't want to be putting half a bin full of plastic in my rubbish just on my return from the supermarket. At least the CO-OP try and stock local. I can buy eggs and potatoes that are from my local area. And yes, I do buy my eggs and potatoes from there and not Tesco, because I want to buy LOCAL. Is it really rocket science?

I know what you mean John; years ago I bought an English apple called Lord Lambourne that had a smashing flavour but I have not seen one in years.

Have a look at this link, it may be of interest to you if you live near one of the events. It's a long while to wait but better than nothing.

http://www.england-in-particular.info/cg/appleday/a-events.html

Would you believe it, I have not been able to find one English variety of apples for the last 4 months in the supermarkets of Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco or Waitrose in the Basildon District area of Essex. Each time I have asked the question, where are your English apples I am informed that the orders are dictated from their respective head offices. I ask the question, when do you listen to the requests of your customers? They just shrug their shoulders and leave feeling foolish in having to ask. I do not buy apples that have air miles preferring to buy apples that are grown in this country, there is no guarantee that they are fresh after being flown from Chile, South Africa, New Zealand and elsewhere barring England. Why are we not supporting our own farmers, the rest of the world gets financial handouts from us tax payers as it is. Please, please let me find some English grown apples, complaining to the managers just falls on deaf ears!!

I noticed on a number of occasions apples labled as English in Asda, which on inspection were not. On informing the staff, they did not seem to get the point, after discussion with the product Manager he said he would change it. A few days later in the same store, clearly labled in a large sign as English Apples, were South African Apples

http://www.allaboutapples.com/varieties/

Go there for full details of all the apples there are.

Most apple varieties don't have a terribly long history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apple_cultivars

Please visit http://theenglishappleman.com for an informed understanding of English Apples and their availability.

It seems that it is preferal to get them from abroad , it is probably not considered cool to get them on your own doorstep, and they would be healthier as they have not travelled halfway across the world!

I'm going to guess that, like in the USA, New Zealand's produce is grown with no control over the amount of insecticide used, and the work is done by underpaid migrant labor.

My advice to you is to kick the corporations in the bum. If you have a garden, buy some native apple, pear, and damson plum trees. Trust me, it'll pay off. Your kids can sell the surplus door-to-door.

We had an apple and pear tree in the backyard. The apples always got wormy, but we'd just cut off the part with the worms and eat the rest (or make fruit salad).

Gosh Discoveries and Cox's I used to see around 10 years ago and you're right - now they're not there anymore. Not unless I go to a farmer's market, anyway. I'm only in my mid-twenties and
I can't believe this is going on in my lifetime.
It's funny that while we lose our native varieties the french, german markets are still booming with theirs..

It's cheaper and more greener to ship apples to London from the Cape of Good Hope than to send them by lorry from the Vale of Evesham. Besides British Farmers are greedy and want their so-called "organic" mark-up. This makes home-grown produce outrageously expensive.

Let the GM crops flood the country

Does anyone know whether the James Grieve apple still exists and if so where it is available? Please let me know at robingb@btinternet.com and many thanks.

Get produce from local farms and in the process, get those lorries off the roads