I was visiting one of my favorite places in East Lothian, Inveresk Garden and Lodge. There is not a time of the year when this place is not inspiring. A stone’s throw from the rumbling A1, it is nonetheless a peaceful and calming space.
But one thing got me going, last time I was there and that was the apples seemingly going to waste. There were admittedly a few available for sale, but there were piles ready to rot and windfalls galore. I found in no time a superbly sharp and crisp Cox. Though somehwat malformed, small and covered with superficial blemishes – below the thin skin lay a perfectly textured and flavoured local apple.
Which made me think that there are apples like this in hundreds of gardens going to waste, not all as wonderfully flavoured but certainly edible or just fine for cooking or jamming. It is always really annoying watching Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall enjoying himself so much in his rural Devonian idyll, but it makes you think – you too could take part in the action – just ask your neighbour what they are doing with their apples?
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And if you can’t collect all the apples yourself, here’s a scrumptious deal that you simply cannot ignore. Thistly Cross are always looking for good quality Scottish apples to juice, and make into their delicious award-winning cider. If you have “unloved fruit”, click that link now. Good, relatively clean condition, obviously, and crab apples need not apply. Here’s what they have to say about quality and picking:
Happy, healthy apples make good cider; apples in bad condition, make bad cider.
In exchange for your apples: we offer a 500ml bottle for every 10kg or (the equivalent in 330 ml bottles); apple juice in return at 25% of the weight of the fruit brought in, in 20L cider boxes pasteurised with a 1 year shelf life (you can have this in 5L boxes if you prefer (with an additional cost of £1 extra per box), or in bottles (£0.38p extra per bottle)); we can buy the apples directly from you at £100/ton = 10p/kg; or offer you a combination of all of these options. Contact us at the office to discuss.