Dear Customer,

I thought we would put some Bramley cooking apples in the bags this week from Dennis Goatham in Kent who also supplies the Conference pears.

The first Bramley tree grew from pips planted by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in her garden in Southwell, Nottinghamshire in about 1809. That same tree is still producing fruit today. A local butcher, Mathew Bramley, bought the cottage and garden in 1846 and it was while he lived there in 1856 that a local nurseryman, Henry Merryweather, asked if he could take graftings from the tree and start to sell the apple. Bramley agreed provided he call the apple ' Bramley seedling'. I would like to know where Mary got the pips from.

The UK is the only country which grows apples specifically designed for cooking and the Bramley accounts for 95% of all cooking apples sold. They contain essential vitamins, especially vitamin C, minerals and are a good source of dietary fibre.

Bramley Apple Pie Week starts on 11th October.

Bramley Apple Pie

175g prepared shortcrust pastry
1-2 tsp caster sugar ( for decoration )
6-7g Bramley cooking apples
75-100g soft brown sugar
juice of 1 orange
1 tsp plain white flour
25g butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 200 centigrade / 400 farenheit /gas mark 6, 15 minutes before baking. Peel and core the apples, cut into quarters and then put them in a bowl of water with a slice of lemon to stop them turning brown. Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour in a large mixing bowl. Place a third of the apple quarters in the base of a deep pie dish (23cms wide) so that it is completely covered and sprinkle with half the sugar mixture. Cover with half the remaining apples and sugar and then arrange the rest of the apples on top. Cut the orange in half and squeeze out the juice using a lemon squeezer. Pour the orange juice over the apples. Cut the butter into small pieces and dot over the apples. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface until it is just larger than the pie dish. Rub the rolling pin with flour to prevent it sticking to the pastry. Dampen the pastry edge then stick it onto the dish, pressing the edges firmly down. You can decorate the top of the pie with any spare pastry. Brush with a little water and sprinkle with the caster sugar. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 180 centigrade / 350 farenheit / Gas mark 4 and continue to cook for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
Serve warm with cream, custard, ice cream, yoghurt or fromage frais.

We have the first satsumas of the season in the fruit bags this week. Despite the greenness of their skins the fruit are quite sweet !

Kind Regards

Isobel Davies