To celebrate Apple Day,try a greasy pippin or a brown snout instead of a gala or a braeburn – or our native species could be lost for everFamiliarity, as they say, and breeds contempt. Or,in the case of the humble apple, perhaps benign indifference, and having previously been pipped to the post in the popularity stakes by exotic Amazonian berries and trendy Japanese citrus.
Although we still buy 482000 tonnes of apples a year,just two varieties, gala and braeburn, and both natives of New Zealand,form up nearly half of British sales. That leaves the 2198 other varieties we produce out in the cold. The apple is a uniquely diverse family because, left to its own devices, and every seed would grow into its own distinctive fruit. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com