Apples from 'perfect harvest' rot on the ground as demand for cider slumps
by Anna Turns from Environment | The Guardian on (#58K84)
In what should be a vintage year because of ideal growing conditions, farmers are forced to abandon fruit where it falls
On a sloping hill just south of Dartmoor, boughs are laden with brightly coloured Devon crimson, pig's snout, tale sweet and slack-ma-girdle. Gabriel David wanders through his five-acre orchard and acknowledges this exceptional yield of heritage cider apples: It should be an absolutely vintage year," he says.
After such amazing sunny weather in lockdown, the apple blossom was perfect. The bees were everywhere: it was a stunning spring. Then it rained at just the right time so our cider apples are bigger, with a higher sugar content, resulting in a greater complexity of flavours."
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