This week I ate my first Organic English Apple of the season, a Discovery Apple from Paul Ward an amazing Kent based organic grower. Every year it is the same, that first bite into a real apple with real flavour evokes such powerful memories. Transported back to my uncle’s farm in North Devon and their orchard of old apple trees, the taste explosion and that unmistakable tartness. All the apples we eat from January through to this wonderful time of year basically taste the same, Royal Gala, Braeburn, Pink Lady, all crisp, all juicy but all devoid of any real flavour. I am sure if the person writing this was a wine connoisseur then they would be using words like ‘complex’ and ‘with a hint of berries’ but I’m not one of those so all I can say is that they taste amazing.
What is even better about this first of the English Apples is that we still have Early Windsor, Scrumptious, Kids Orange, Lambourne, Red Pippin, Topaz and of course Egremont Russett’s (to name but a few of the 30 or more varieties we will have over the next 4 or 5 months) to look forward too.
I for one cannot wait, this is what the seasons are all about. Enjoying something this is available now, at it’s best now and then gone again until this time next year.