Do we still grow British apples.

Russets have a very short season in "real life" and the flavour is spoiled by chilling. Egremont Russet is the variety most common in the shops but a late frost will kill the buds so some years there's a poor crop anyway.

I find them for certain months each year, as a pp said, about
September to April, but do still often find them in e.g. M&S.

AFAIK a lot of our apple orchards were ploughed up after we joined the (then) Common Market and there were masses of cheaper imports - largely IIRC ton upon ton of Golden Delicious.
You never see those any more. Or at least I don’t. They weren’t much cop taste-wise IIRC.

Cox and Bramley are available from late September/October

Cox's pippin are my favourite apple. More taste to it than foreign varieties.

We have local apples in our farm shop that come about 5 miles from the castle orchard, we often go up in the Autumn with a bag and collect windfall ones for free. They also make apple juice from the excess stock and sell it in the farm shop, absolutely delicious.

Braeburn are lovely I think they’re British? Does anyone remember the Canadian Mac red apples? I used to absolutely love these but they were delicate . I think that’s why they aren’t sold anymore.

They are not in season yet. I don't buy apples out of season any more than I do strawberries I find it so exciting when the first UK apples (often Discovery) begin to appear! I've found that UK Braeburns last very well in the fridge after the season is over.

I bought some lovely English apples in Sainsburys yesterday. Delicious.

I watched a programme recently about the big apple growing companies. Their apples were ‘Pink Lady’ which is a brand name that also encompasses Gala/Royal Gala, they come from Australia and basically they have crushed British apple growers. They are a genetically modified product but they can’t be grown here because the brand owner in Australia says our climate is not good enough for their products.
Supermarkets prefer to buy from big corporations as it is easier (they say) so they agreed to stop selling our own apples so there isn’t a market for them any more.
The big boys put our apples out of business sadly.

You can pick your own locally later in the year, direct from the farm. So the answer is yes we can and do grow apples!

We shop with Asda, they have English apples.
We have two apple trees in the garden, one large Bramley tree and a smaller unknown variety that DH thinks are Cox's Orange Pippins. We harvest both of them and freeze the apples, but have not had much success with storing them the traditional way, they're attached by mice or rats or go mouldy.

I buy English apples at my local farm shop.l also buy local produced meat to save on transport miles.I refuse to buy out of season fruit and veg from halfway round the world.

Would love a russet at Christmas… or any other time of year. I’ve been looking for the past autumn/winters. Never found any… sad as they were my absolute favourites ?

timetogo2016, Russets we’re my dads favourite apple too. I try to find them and usually can in farm shops which gives me a ping of nostalgia!

I buy British apples - Asda and Aldi stock them and they are reasonably priced.

The Mac Red is still sold at least in Supermarkets. Late season apple and usually top of the price range.

Try a Farmshop you will get British apples there ??

I can remember when certain politicians wanted the country to boycott South African apples and I was only about ten years old and I had a terrible fight with my conscience because although I wanted to agree with the boycott, I felt that the poor South African workers would be out of work and would starve so I carried on buying them.

Not long until August and new season British apples appear. I prefer British as I like a crunchy tangy apple which seem to grow best in our climate. Remember Golden Delicious - taste like wool to me but some seem to like them.

I have a real greengrocer who in the season has about ten different varieties of English apples. They cost a little more than the imports and are all different sizes but wonderful flavours. It is up to the consumer to vote with their purses and not expect something for nearly nothing!

My favourite apple is Discovery. It is only sold for a short time in a few supermarkets. I think that I have bought them previously in Morrisons and Tesco. I don't drive so could not access a farm shop.

NotSpaghetti

British Apples are in season September to about April.

Do you remember the soft apples of our youth when they had been stored too long?

I always keep apples in the fridge, they stay crisp for much, much longer.

Yes they do, but going back to the original post, there is a "lean" period with regard to apples from the UK, just as there is with other fresh fruit/veg.

Pearlsaminger

Would love a russet at Christmas… or any other time of year. I’ve been looking for the past autumn/winters. Never found any… sad as they were my absolute favourites ?

I've had russet apples from Ocado and Waitrose last winter. They were two different varieties.
Also bought a few in London from a greengrocer's delivery service and some from a local greengrocer. They are out there but as they don't keep well it's a short window.

Well let’s face! She’s mad! We should be producing and consuming more of our own produce. I have said so for years long before Brexit or Covid, we should be more self reliant.