Having Your Cake, and Eating It...

If I'd known it was Apple Day, I'd have baked a cake...

Well I did and I have, so happy Apple Day everyone. Here's a cake which whilst not strictly appley in nature, is straight out of the orchard and bursting with the kind of local distinctiveness that set Common Ground on the road to Apple Day in the first place.

A couple of years ago I took the hard but necessary decision of removing our three grape vines, scene of a handful of very fine red wine vintages, but in recent years more of a crime scene as plagues of voracious Wasps beat us to the ripening crop. Their place has been taken by a strapping young Quince, a Meech's Prolific c/o piggybacking on an order from our friends at Torkard Cider of Hucknall-in-the-North.

Prolific! Not-half. This is only its second season in the garden and already we've got far more fruit than we can deal with. Hence the standard late-Summer greeting of "Hello. Would you like some Courgettes?" has taken a Quince-like direction.

Quince is a moderately versatile cooking fruit if you accept that everything you cook with it will be slightly dominated by its massive tart and tangy fruitiness. It's a lovely flavour, but I wouldn't pare it with delicate fish dishes for example, or anything delicate for that matter. A cake is ideal though, so...

Quince, Walnut, Honey & Perry Cake (Based on a recipe from 'Thyme' of Southrop Manor Est, Glocs)

Peel, core, and chop three or four Quince, depending on size, and poach for around 45 minutes in a whatever you fancy. I chose some of our own Perry, plus a dollop of honey and a couple of Star Anise. Drain and reserve the liquor.

You'll need 50g of chopped Walnuts, so if your nuts are shell-on as our were (another glut, this time from our neighbours), you may want to put some music on and begin the lengthy process of cracking and extracting. Incidentally, if anyone knows the secret to extracting Walnut innards whole and not in numerous fiddly bits, a 'comments' section is a available below...

Chop your nuts and set aside. In a food processor, blend 325g Caster Sugar with 125g Butter until fluffy. Add 3 Eggs and a dash of Vanilla Extract and beat until combined.

Measure out 360g Plain Flour, 1/2 tsp Baking Powder, 1/4 tsp Cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp Salt. Add half of this to the batter until combined. Add 120ml Milk, then the rest of the flour mix until combined. Fold in the Walnuts and Quince pieces.

Transfer to a greased cake tin and bake at 150C (Fan Oven) for around 1 hour, and 15 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, reduce the Quince Poaching Liquor to a thin syrup.

Check the cake with a sharp knife to ensure the innards are properly cooked through. Let it cool for a bit then turn out onto a rack. Poke holes all over the top of the cake and gradually spoon the syrup over so that some soaks in, some glazes the top, and some trickles down the sides onto the work surface
.

Phone all your friends, you've got Cake!

Ciderhouse News - Cidermaking 2014

Here's a short round-up of what's been happening at Rockingham Forest Cider recently. As you'll notice from the pic above, we have a new certificate for the ciderhouse wall, having gone one better than our previous Silver effort in 2011 and won Gold for a Green Horse/Red Longdon Perry in the East Midlands Cider & Perry Competition. Competition organiser Denise Wright can be seen taking the full weight of the certificate, whilst I stand idly by in front of the impressive East Midlands wall of cider at Nottingham CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival. A great day out, c/o of all the hard working volunteers, but particularly Ray Blockley of Torkard Cider who put together this years impressive collection of nearly 300 ciders and perries from throughout England and Wales. In the spirit of friendly competition I'm encouraging Susan to go one better and present 301 ciders and perries at the Leicester Beer Festival next year.

The innaugral Cottingham Village Apple Day was held at the end of September, organised by Green Horizons a Cottingham based project for families with children who are on the autistic spectrum. In addition to having Red Kite Cider on the pop-up bar we gave samples of a Vilberie Cider to a steady stream of thirsty cider fans on what turned out to be a proper Summer's day. A really great event, and very well supported by villagers and visitors.

Perry making is in full swing, which in the case of the 2014 season is quite a small childs swing with a sensible safety bar. No Green Horse or Malvern Hills this year, but some Blakeney Red, and a similar quantity of mixed pears which will hopefully make something tasty for next year. Needless to say this means there will be no repeat of our award-winning perry, and no Green Horse, which is particularly sad as this is my favourite perry of all. Sniffle!

The Blakeney Red has come out at a modest 1.049 this year, the mixed batch a more respectable 1.055. Fermentation is progressing at a nice even pace, and every day we pray for sub-zero temperatures in a bid to slow things right down and therefore retain some residual sweetness in the perries.

The very latest news from the ciderhouse is that the Yarlington Mill apples are in the process of being picked, and Dabinett (below) are still hanging on the tree. This year, in a break from tradition we will be collecting a tonne of Dabinett from a top cider and perry maker near Leominster.

Ciderhouse News - October

It's been a very long time in the planning, but the Big One has very nearly arrived. Yes, the Nottingham CAMRA Beer Festival is very, very Big, and of course every-One is welcome (provided they're old enough and behave themselves), which by definition makes it the Big One... you see what I did there... quite clever eh!... Oh well, suit yourselves.

The Robin Hood Beer Festival is the last major event we'll be sending our cider and perry to, and I'm pleased to say we'll be in very good company. This year the festival is sporting a new, and from an East Midlands cidermakers perspective, much improved cider bar. There will be a whopping 22 ciders (and a perry) from 11 East Midlands cider (and perry) makers. The full list for the festival features over 170 ciders and perries from all over the UK, far too many to list here so follow the link below when you've got a few minutes spare.

Nottingham Robin Hood Beer Festival Cider & Perry List

The cider we'll be sending is a Kingston Black/Sweet Alford blend, and the perry is a late season blend of unknown pear varieties which has finished in the 'Opaque' style Green Horse Perry fans will know and love. I'll also be sending myself for a good old fashioned loiter at the cider bar during the Friday afternoon session.

Meanwhile, pressing continues. We've now got approximately 700 litres of assorted perries fizzing merrily away, and a mere 120 litres of cider made from Blenheim Orange apples, with a similar amount still to be pressed. The Blenheim cider will be used to blend with the low acid bittersweets and sweet cider apples that we'll be pressing later in the month. This will help to lower the pH, and act as a vigorous yeasty starter too. The very warm weather we've been experiencing means we're unlikely to have a repeat of the low alcohol, naturally sweet perries we had last season. It will be interesting to see how popular some of these drier 'full-strength' perries will be next year, none of which are likely to be below 7% abv.

The organisers of the popular Brocks Hill Apple Day in Oadby have been in touch, though sadly only to advise us that the event has been cancelled this year owing to cuts in available funding. A great shame, and we hope that plans for an event in 2012 come to fruition. There are of course other Apple Day events happening all over the country, but since Common Ground now no longer coordinate the event, there is currently no UK wide listing of these events available. Probably best to check local press for details throughout October.

Apple Sunday

Tom Putt? Flower of the Town? - You Decide

One of the major attractions of an Apple Day event, is the chance to meet an apple 'expert', who may be able to positively identify your mystery garden fruit for you. It's a two-way service, with occasional rarities, or even 'lost' varieties coming to light, which is just about as exciting as it's possible to get for a pomologist I guess.

If you're lucky, you may be able to match up your specimen with one of the many examples on display, otherwise there's likely to be a small library of illustrated books on hand to help the identification process. Even then, a positive ID may be difficult, and there's always the chance your fruit will turn out to be a 'wilding' variety from a unique pip-grown tree. Apple identification is a fascinating, yet fiendishly difficult pastime. I know, I've tried it and failed on numerous occasions.

Which brings me to an apple which has been foxing me for a few years now. It's an aromatic, sharp, early apple, growing in the far corner of the orchard in Worcestershire. A rather pretty apple I think, with its green/yellow skin, and profusion of red stripes. Given that this is a mixed orchard, containing dessert, culinary, cider and perry varieties, we've tentatively classified this apple as Tom Putt, a dual purpose variety, often used for cider in it's native Devon. It certainly matches the description in Liz Copas 'A Somerset Pomona - The Cider Apples of Somerset', though less so the accompanying photograph it has to be said.

The fruit expert who attended the Brocks Hill Apple Day, was from the Northern Fruit Group, and he confidently identified these specimens as Flower of the Town, a native apple of Yorkshire. I have to say I'm not convinced of this, and I'm even less persuaded having seen the beautiful watercolour of a Tom Putt in the recently re-published 'The Apple Book' by Rosie Sanders. The resemblance is really quite striking, and it just seems more likely to me that a West Country dual purpose/cider apple would be planted in a Worcestershire orchard, than a Yorkshire dessert apple. So until proven otherwise, Tom Putt it is...

The Apple Book comes highly recommended. The watercolours really are stunning, and you can view a fascinating video of the work in progress on this YouTube Channel.

Happy Apple Day

Apple Day events are now in full swing ahead of the traditional 21st of October peak. We had our day in the sun yesterday, at Brocks Hill Visitors Centre in Leicestershire. After the hard graft of the orchard, it was a welcome opportunity to sit back, relax, and talk cider and perry with visitors to the event.

It really was a day in the sun too, with a lovely bit of late Summer sunshine to bring out the crowds. We had a good day, offering many samples, and selling a few gallons too. Diana Fegredo's beautiful cards were well received, and our small display of cider apples and perry pears made a nice change from the wide range of dessert and culinary fruit on show.

Our best sellers were the Medium Rockingham Forest Cider blend, and our last box of Mystery Perry. This picture shows the innovative box-tilting method we employed as the cider and perry got low towards the end of the day.

I'd like to say a big thank you to my Sister-in-Law Susan, who helped with the smooth running of the stall, organiser Helen Gregory for her great enthusiasm and hard work putting on the event, and David Bates of Welland Valley Vineyard for sorting out the licence. Let's hope that government funding cuts don't put paid to this and other important community events in future years.

Ciderhouse News - October

Apple & Pear trees continue to be shaken, and the fruit thereof continues to be pressed. It's exhausting work, but we're committed to getting the harvest in and making as much cider and perry as we possibly can. Because you're worth it...

This Sunday we'll be offering samples and sales of our Cider and Perry at the Brocks Hill Apple Day event in Oadby, Leicestershire. All being well, we'll have a good range of Cider Apples and Perry Pears to display, as well as a few examples from our small collection of stoneware cider jars, just so long as the table can take the weight! We also hope to have a selection of beautiful fruity cards from our friend Diana Fegredo.

Also in attendance will be Mel and Nigel of the Leicestershire Heritage Apple Project, and David Bates of Welland Valley Vineyard will be bringing along his wines and cider to try and to buy. There will also be an apple identification service, and best of all it's a free event. Apple Day events are occurring throughout the country, and you can find out what's what, when and where, on this handy website: Apple Day Events

Congratulations are in order for Kevin & Fiona at the Red Lion, Middleton for retaining their coveted position in the latest CAMRA Good Beer Guide. The 2011 edition of the guide is now available from good bookshops, but you won't need it to gain admission to 'The Red'. A good appreciation of fine ales, cider and perry is all that's required, though some skill at the skittles table would be helpful. Rockingham Forest Perry is currently available at the Red Lion.

...and finally, here's a picture of a three handled cider mug, or Tyg as they're better known, that I couldn't resist buying recently. It was made by Leonard Stockley of Weymouth, and features three handles (as is the custom), and the word 'Cider' written thrice around the mug, presumably so you don't forget what it's for. Lovely!

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Thanks to a tip-off from a friend in the village, I've spent the last two evening picking dessert apples and pears in a nearby country house orchard. There are around four different varieties of apple, at least half of which are Russets of some description. There are also a few cooking apple trees bearing very large green apples (Lord Derby at a guess), but we won't be using these in the cider. The russets are a bonus since they are widely regarded as being excellent for cidermaking purposes. If I can keep a few specimens in good condition, I'll be taking examples of all the varieties to the forthcoming Brocks Hill Apple Day event (10th Oct) in the hope that the resident apple experts can identify them for me.

All in all we've got maybe a quarter of a ton of fruit to press. This will form the core of our 2011 Welland Valley Festival Special Cider, along with the fruit from various other trees dotted around the village which are a few weeks off ripening yet.

My pleasure at spending time in this lovely old orchard was seriously tempered by the knowledge that it almost certainly won't be there next year. Sadly there are plans to build on the land, and the orchard will be grubbed up in due course. Such a shame.

Here are a few photos I took this evening. Unfortunately the light wasn't very good, and the heavy rain created a few problems too, but hopefully you'll get an idea of what we'll soon be missing...

Brocks Hill Apple Day

Ciderhouse News - September

It's been a Mop and Bucket kind of a weekend. The ciderhouse has received a full top-to-bottom clean ahead of the first pressing of the season, which will hopefully be next weekend if we can catch the Malvern Hills perry pears in time. Word is that some pears have already fallen, so I'm just hoping that the high winds we're experiencing this week haven't brought the lot down before I manage to get to the orchard on Friday.

I'm combining the trip with a visit to the Orchard Centre at Hartpury in Gloucestershire, which is hosting a day In Praise of the Perry Pear on Saturday. I'll be taking along a few of our own perrys to get feedback and advice from the experts, and hopefully a few of the unknown perry pears from the orchard for identification purposes. Around 50 perry pear varieties will be on display, so I'm hoping I can match up one or two of our own on the day. There will also be perrys available to sample and buy on the day, so I'll be sampling and buying too. It would be rude not to.

We still have cider and perry available at the Red Lion Middleton and Wing Hall Cafe Bar and Shop, and there are one or two events still to come where our cider and perry will be available. We'll be sending a box of our most recent perry to the Billesdon Local Food Lunch (3rd Oct), for which tickets are required, and will have cider and perry to sample and buy at the forthcoming Brocks Hill Apple Day (10th Oct). We'd like to thank David Bates of Welland Valley Vineyard for sorting out the licencing for this years event. David will have bottles of his own excellent Roundhead Cider available to buy on the day too.

In other news, the Rockingham Forest Cider Flock has increased again with the arrival of 'Molly Maid' our beautiful new Maran Hybrid. She'll be company for 'Chucky-Egg' who despite repeated efforts to sidle up to the 'Big Hens', has so far failed to find an acceptable place in the existing pecking order. Bad Girls! Young Chucky is laying small brown eggs at the moment, but has still managed to squeeze out this delicious 'double-yolker'. Good Girl!

In related news, the ever dwindling grape harvest has now been officially cancelled... Very tasty eggs though!

Ciderhouse News - August and beyond...

I notice that our Wikio Wine & Beer Blog Ranking has slipped another two precious places. Bah Humbug !

This blog stands on a knife edge... A top 40 ranking is still within our reach, and with it the chance to Mash & Sparge-it-up with the great and the good of beer and brewing. Or do we slide even further into the bargain basement of blogging, sharing a cheap bottle of Shiraz on a park bench with the lower league Wine and Whiskey bloggers. If only we knew how those crafty beer scribes manage to fiddle their rankings...

Ah well! It's only popularity we crave after all. A much devalued currency in my opinion. I guess we'll always be mid-table bloggers, our cidery musings of little interest to the wider world. We're a specialist little cidery fish in an ocean of boozy Cods-wallop, and that's where we're happy to stay. Imagine the pressure of being in the top 10! We'd have to start putting some effort into the writing.... Well all I can say is 'Not on my watch!'

Here is the news:

Reports from both the Tollemache Arms and Raunds Town Cricket Club beer festivals suggest cider and perry are still riding a wave of popularity with local drinkers. The Tolly in Harrington had ran out of our Red Kite Cider well before the weekend rush, and only a few pints remained from the six assorted boxes we sent by close of play on Sunday. It's was such a shame that circumstances beyond our control (Chickens, who'd have 'em) prevented us from visiting the festival ourselves. Next year...

Thirsty Raunds drinkers made even shorter work of the eight barrels we sent to the Cricket Club, with everything selling out well before the festival wrapped up on Sunday. Plans are already in place for the 2011 event, and we'll be aiming to supply a bigger order, and hopefully a wider range for this popular event. We'd also like to thank Phil of the award winning Great Oakley Brewery for helping us out with delivery to Raunds this year. We'd also like to Congratulate Phil and his team on being awarded Bronze medals for Great Oakley Gobble, and their bottle conditioned Delapre Dark at this years Great British Beer Festival. Well deserved.

The next event we'll be sending cider and perry to is the Red Lion Mini Beer & Real Cider Festival (3rd - 5th Sept), part of a weekend of music and fun at our local pub in Middleton. We hope to have a couple of ciders, and at least one perry on offer over the weekend, including the long-awaited release of our Malvern Hills Perry. More details when we've squeezed them out of Fiona.

Brigstock Beer Festival is a local event we really like to be involved in. Great music, a fine range of beers and ciders, and the weather is always good for this one.... We'll have a couple of ciders and some more of the Malvern Hills on offer, and we hope to join the throng for a drink in the afternoon.

Apple Day 2010 (21st Oct) is still a way off yet, but events are already being added to the web page which can be viewed here. We haven't had confirmation yet, but hope to make a return appearance at this years excellent Brocks Hill Apple Day in Oadby , Leics. Again, more details when we have them.

Brocks Hill Apple Day Pt.2

We'd like to thank Helen Gregory, Countryside and Biodiversity Officer for Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, who organised the Apple Day event at Brocks Hill Country Park on Sunday. We were both pleasantly surprised at the quality of the many stalls she had assembled for the day, including some fantastic displays of rare and local apples.

We were happy to offer samples of our two ciders, which many people enjoyed enough to purchase a two pint takeaway. Our friend Diana Fegredo's beautiful cards attracted a lot of attention, as did our small display of cider apples and perry pears. It was pleasing how many people took an interest in our cidermaking, with several keen to give the craft a go themselves.

We were not the only cidermakers there, with David Bates of Welland Valley Vineyard offering tasters of his Roundhead Cider. We thought the Medium cider was outstanding, well done David. There was also a selection of bottled ciders from Pawley Farm of Kent.

Our stall was snuggled up next to the Leicestershire Heritage Apple Project. Mel, Nigel, and Michael seemed to be having a very successful day, their homemade press was also a great attraction for budding cidermakers.

All in all, a great day out, and one we hope to attend again.

Brocks Hill Apple Day

I'll post a better description of the 2009 Brocks Hill Apple Day when I've got more time, but here's a couple of pics to give a flavour of the day...

The Rockingham Forest Cider Stall

Apple Identification by the Northern Fruit Group

All Shapes and Sizes... and Colours!

Identifying unknown varieties of apple is a tricksy business perhaps best left to the experts. The kind of pomological knowledge required to positively identify one variety of apple from maybe a dozen others which look almost identical, can only be gained through many years of working with orchard fruit.

There are certainly enough variables in an apple to help come to a reasonably positive conclusion, but unfortunately the biggest variable is often where, and how the fruit has been grown. Size of fruit can vary enormously depending on soil, climate, age of tree, and perhaps most importantly, whether the tree is carrying a heavy or light crop. The colouring of the fruit is determined as much by weather conditions and the position of the fruit on the tree with regard to the sun. In addition, an apple may only achieve it's true varietal colouring when truly ripe, a condition which can sometimes be hard to judge.

There are one or two good books available to help with apple identification. We use Liz Copas 'A Somerset Pomona - The Cider Apples of Somerset', which lists most of the more common cider apple varieties. Of course it's of little use when trying to identify an apple not native to Somerset, and even this excellent publication features photographs which don't quite tally with known specimens we've pressed. It's those variables again!

Perhaps the best chance of getting a positive identification of an unknown variety of apple is at a local Apple Day event. They frequently feature one of these 'apple experts', indeed there will be Apple Identification at the Brocks Hill event we are attending this Sunday (11th Oct).

The fruit we've been pressing this year comes from an old orchard in Worcestershire. The orchards owner John can name many of the varieties, but even he doesn't know the identity of all the trees. Some were planted by his Grandfather over 100 years ago, indeed some of the perry pear trees are probably nearer 200 years old, so it's no surprise that some of the knowledge has become a little hazy. It doesn't help when a certain tree is known only by a unique 'local' name, though for me this does add colour to the whole story. One perry pear tree for example, is known by the name Bell Pear due to it's distinctively shaped fruit, but I can't find a reference to this variety anywhere. Luckily for us, we don't really need to know the identity of every apple which goes into our cider, so long as the taste is right, and in this we're guided by our tongues!

So here's a picture of the cider apples we've pressed so far this year. The fruits are quite distinctive, and we know for sure what most are, but there are one or two mystery apples. If you know what they might be, do let us know.

From top left to bottom right:

• Unknown early bittersweet - These apples had all fallen by early October, and our best guess on these waxy skinned, scabby green/yellow fruits is Bulmers Norman, which we've pressed before.
• Kingston Black - From a windswept smallish tree which rarely produces much. The skin is very dark red at the nose, and the flesh is hard, chewy and classically bittersharp. Wish we had a few more of these!
• Dabinett - Homegrown on our very young trees. Large apples for Dabinett
• Dabinett - Believe it or not, these are the same variety as above, but from a heavily cropping mature tree in the Worcestershire orchard.
• Unknown Sweet - Conical, scabby but attractive apple. This is a pure sweet, that is it has low acidity distinguishing it from a dessert apple.
• Harry Masters' Jersey - Homegrown, from a heavily cropping young tree. Harry Masters' is distinguished by a pinky/orange colouring.
• Yarlington Mill - Homegrown, and again very large for the variety due to a young tree carrying a small crop. These yarly's are deep red, with a pointed nose and distinctive ribbing.
• Unknown Bittersweet - Small, round and dullish green. These are mid season apples from a single tree in Johns orchard. Full bittersweet, Michelin? Who knows!
• Unknown Sharp - These had mostly all fallen at Johns orchard in Worcs. The skin is striped orangey red, and the apple is heavily ribbed. A very attractive fruit with a wonderful aromatic flavour which reminded me of the sharp cider variety Brown's Apple.

Apple Day 2009

Apple Day, the annual celebration of Apples, Orchards, and of course Cider and Perry, is almost upon us. Although centred around the 21st of October, some Apple Day events have already taken place, and there are many more to come throughout October.

A listing of Apple Day events can be found on the Common Ground Website, though even this extensive listing is not likely to be complete. This year we'll not only be visiting one of the events, but also taking part by offering samples and sales of our cider at Brocks Hill Country Park in Oadby, Leicestershire (11th October, 11-4pm). This will be our last event of the season, given that we have now virtually sold out of cider.

We've written about Brocks Hill before on this blog, in particular the wonderful Community Orchard which forms a centre point to the extensive parklands. Presumably, many of the trees will still be in fruit, which is something I look forward to exploring on the day.

We hope to have a small display of cider and perry fruit, and some nice images to help explain the cidermaking process right through from orchard to glass. We'll also have a small selection of our friend Diana Fegredo's lovely fruit themed cards for sale, an example of which is shown here. Look out too for Nigel Deacon and Mel Wilson of the Leicestershire Heritage Apple Project, who will be there to explain about rare local apples and why we need to conserve them.

Apple Day 2008

October is a busy month for cidermakers, orchardists, and lovers of all things appley alike. Common Ground's popular Apple Day, CAMRA's Cider & Perry Month campaign, and of course the month-long task of harvesting and pressing the fruit for next year's cider all help to focus minds on our wonderful orchard heritage throughout October.

Apple Day events are planned throughout the country, most not actually occurring on the day itself since the 21st of October falls on a Tuesday this year. A full listing of all known events can be found on Common Ground's Apple Day Events Calendar, which is already chock-full of great days out, and is constantly being added to.

Similarly, events which have been planned by local CAMRA branches for the Cider & Perry Month campaign can be found via the Cider & Perry Month page on CAMRA's website. The ukcider Events page is also worth a look, and is an excellent resource for cider related events throughout the year.

Personally, I wish that both these seasonal initiatives were held at a less busy time of the year. We rarely get the opportunity to attend any of the Apple Day events, we managed to get to Stamford last year and hope to attend at least one local Apple Day event this year. I can't help thinking that many more cidermakers would get involved with Apple Day and Cider & Perry Month, if the events were taking place at a time of year when all the cidermaking was done and dusted, and maybe they even had some cider to sell.

Apple Day - Stamford

Apple day is the big-day-out for enthusiasts of orchards, apples, and to a lesser degree, cider. Initiated by Common Ground in 1990, the number of events which take place on or around 'Apple Day' (21st October), grows year on year.


By a strange quirk of fate, I have never actually been to an Apple Day event, though certainly not by design. This year I determined to go to at least one of our local events, Stamford being one of the nearest.


One of the main motivators behind the Stamford Apple Day is the Stamford Community Orchard Group, which is dedicated to preserving Stamford heritage apple varieties (of which there are many, though most are currently designated as 'lost'), and establishing a community orchard for the benefit of all Stamford folk. They are ably assisted by the East of England Apples & Orchards Project, an umbrella organisation which covers voluntary groups throughout the Eastern Counties area.


The Stamford Apple Day event takes place at the Arts Centre in the town centre, with participants including Beekeepers, apple produce from Stamford New College, excellent local apple juices from the Stamford Juice Co (who also make a drop of fine cider), and a host of other interesting stalls with wide family appeal.


One of the most interesting aspects of an Apple Day event is the chance to have unknown varieties of apple from your own orchard/garden identified by experts in this field. I took along a couple of specimens from the several varieties we used in our recent cidermaking, hoping to put a name to a face as it were. Some small dessert apples from our own orchard proved difficult to pin down, not helped by the size of the fruit. We really should have thinned out the bumper crop on this tree, leading to better size apples, but as anyone who grows-to-press is likely to understand, removing healthy fruitlettes from a tree groaning with appley potential somehow goes against the grain. We'll know differently next year.


Another dessert apple, which we picked from the lovely Welland Valley village of Rockingham, was quickly identified as a Worcester Permain. In retrospect, and having now looked, and tasted these apples, the rich, sweet flavour and appearance is classic Worcester, but identifying unknown apples is notoriously difficult, even for the experts, so it's nice to have a really positive ID, rather than guesswork.


The image at the start of this Blog is of one of the many trays of apples laid out to help the 'identifiers', which also made a wonderful display of our rich orchard heritage.


We aim to go to at least one other local Apple Day event this year, possibly Wilson's Orchard in Northampton, and would seriously recommend you support Apple Day at an event near you.