Apple of my eye

The UK has the perfect climate for the Apple, and the national fruit collection at Brogdale in Kent, holds over 2,300 apples.

This is all the more startling when you consider that 70% of all apples in the UK come from three varieties (and you can guess which those are!), and 70% of those are imported. With flavours ranging from sherbet lemons, to pineapple via rose…to intense “apple”, this versatile fruit comes in every flavour and texture.

Each county has its own varieties often with wonderful names (Cornish Gilliflower anyone?) so it’s possible to have something genuinely connecting your restaurant and the wider landscape around it.

The Slow Food Ark of Taste has many apple varieties, and companies such as Graysons who support the UK Ark of Taste find that using apples is a versatile product – they have good storage, great stories to tell, and can be used in sweet and savoury dishes alike.

You can buy more interesting apple varieties from wholesalers, or why not consider gifting some trees to a local school, in return for sharing the crop with them?

A genuine local sharing economy – a glass of cider to that!