Its Apple Day Today!

This Post was written by Naomi from Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried



Its apple day today and people around the country are celebrating with fetes, cake sales, apple shows, cider drinking contests and the like. You can find out what events are near you by looking at the common ground website. But the cooks and bakers among us may want to celebrate by making something apply in our kitchens; an Eve's pudding, apple sauce for some roast pork, a Waldorf salad or just a fluffy baked apple with lashings of cream. We are going away tomorrow (for our first holiday in a LONG time) so I can't make anything today because I am washing clothes and packing. But I will refer you to my Crab Apple Brandy recipe, which you could also use some nice sharp orchard apples for, Lord Lambourne perhaps?

Orchards are fast disappearing around us because of supermarket demand for uniformity and long shelf life in the apples they sell. Small producers of old varieties just can't compete. Its our duty as consumers to make a difference here. Try buying your apples from a local producer - often found at farmers markets or WI markets.Ask your supermarket or local green grocer to stock old varieties - they may not listen to your lone voice, but they do respond to consumer demand - look at the explosion in organics. If they think it will sell, they will provide it.

Lastly, have you noticed how even in apple season many of the apples are still bought over from New Zealand and South Africa? Make sure you boycott these apples, they are contributing to our enormous carbon footprint and it doesn't need to be that way, you can often find an apple that has come no further than a few miles, to be crunched, juicy and sweet in the knowledge that you have done a little bit for the environment!