Scrunchhhh !

The British shopper is fickle, planning to meet their tastes is a hazardous enterprise.

UK apple sales are down, again. The Commercial director at Capespan, Martin Dunnett, believes the UK market is experiencing a long term change.

“It is becoming ever more apparent that there is competition to apples from summer fruits,” he said. “The whole season is changing and there is definitely a longer window for summer fruit.”

As a result there is an overhang on the market of Southern hemisphere fruit which results in home grown “Discovery”, which with a short shelf life, is struggling for shelf space and sales, against stocks of new Zealand “Braeburn” which are selling wholesale at 2/300 pence per 18 Kg carton = approx 9p per lb!

"There is going to be a lot of Discovery unsold this year," said Robert Rendall, managing director of Plantsman Ardleigh Storage. “We have one more week left of the crop and we are grading it for the School Fruit & Vegetable Scheme, and the rest will go to juice. It’s a tragedy, because it’s fantastic apple, but there has been an overlap with southern hemisphere fruit and therefore not enough shelf space or support for the variety.”

Apples are a source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber such as pectin actually helps to prevent cholesterol buildup blood vessel walls linings, helping reduce the chances of atherosclerosis and heart disease. Insoluble fiber in apples provides bulk for the intestinal tract, holding water to cleanse and move food quickly through the digestive system.

Eat apples with their skin. Half of the vitamin C content is just underneath the skin. Eating the skin also increases insoluble fiber content. The apple's fragrance cells are concentrated in the skin and as they ripen, the skin cells develop more aroma and flavor.