Apples
[title]Cox[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of over 190 hectares producing 4,300 tonnes of fruit.
The Cox apple originated in England and can be traced back to 1865.
It is a small to medium sized apple with creamy flesh and a strong, sweet and slightly acidic flavour. Kent grows more of this traditional apple than anywhere else in the world.
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[title]Bramley[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of over 150 hectares producing 4,200 tonnes of fruit.
This fabulous culinary apple was discovered in Southwell, Nottinghamshire in the garden of local butcher, Matthew Bramley, in 1856. It is a very large, dark green culinary apple and accounts for 95% of all UK cooking apple sales. It is a very tart, firm apple, high in malic acid with strong apple flavour. It still retains good texture when cooked.
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[title]Gala[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of over 120 hectares producing 1,700 tonnes of fruit.
Programme selection in the 1950s improved the variety but it didn’t become popular until the 1980s. Now Gala apples are the second most popular variety in the UK behind Cox’s. The skin colour is red striped over green/yellow with firm flesh and a sweet and juicy taste.
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[title]Rubens[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of 40 hectares producing 407 tonnes of fruit.
This apple has a striking, striped or solid light red colour. Its taste is sweet like that of Gala, but more aromatic; its texture is more solid and crunchy than that of Elstar
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[title]Cameo[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of 15 hectares producing 195 tonnes of fruit.
Colour varies quite considerably, from a basically dark red flushed apple to a pale green apple with orange flushes. The flavour has a hint of pear – similar to Red Delicious although this apple is a bit crisper than Red Delicious.
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[title]Braeburn[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of 44 hectares producing 688 tonnes of fruit.
Braeburns are sweet with a hint of tart, and a firmness that stores well. These traits plus the fact that they bake well have made them a very versatile apple.
Firm with smooth, clean skin and have good colour for the variety.
Usually in season from October through to April
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[title]Egremont Russet[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of over 39 hectares producing 650 tonnes of fruit.
This variety is an old English type with a very distinctive appearance with its light brown and russeted colour. The flesh is of a more dense texture with a nutty, sweet taste this is often said to be a connoisseur’s variety.
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[title]Spartan[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of 11 hectares producing 213 tonnes of fruit.
The skin is of a dark-red almost purple complexion with white flesh. It is firm-textured with high levels of juice and a very sweet taste with a noticeable hint of passion fruit.
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[title]Discovery[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of 13 hectares producing 263 tonnes of fruit.
This apple is acidic rather than sweet and can have a hint of strawberry flavour, although this is very variable. The colours are a fresh yellow-green, usually with dark red patches where the sun has caught it.
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[title]Fuji[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of .3 hectares producing 6 tonnes of fruit.
Fuji is surely one of the more attractive modern apple varieties. Its main characteristic is the lovely pink speckled flush over a yellow-green background. It is also crisp and juicy, with dull white flesh which snaps cleanly. The flavour is predominantly sweet, very refreshing (especially if slightly chilled), but not particularly outstanding.
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[title]Katy[/title]
Mid Kent Grower combined growing area of 2 hectares producing 93 tonnes of fruit.
Katy is an attractive medium-sized apple, usually bright red in colour over a light green yellow background. The flesh is a pale cream colour, and on the softer side of crunchy. Katy is usually a very juicy, and when fresh from the tree the juice goes everywhere as you bite into it. It has a fairly mild apple flavour, a bit of refreshing acidity, and in a good year a hint of strawberry.
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[title]Other varieties[/title]
Mid Kent Growers also grow several other varieties in smaller quantities that often act as cross pollinators in their larger orchards and help to ensure excellent quality fruit, or are new varieties or in some cases are grown for juice.
These varieties are:
Beni Shogun, Crispin, Early Windsor, Estival, Falstaff, Golden Delicious, Grenadier, Howgate, Jonagold, Jonogored, Pride of Kent, Red Delicious and Worcester.
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 5th, 2010 at 2:43 pm and is filed under products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
