Bramley supplies in peak condition

Bramley Apple Week gets under way on February 6 with the main activity for 2005 already having received much media coverage.

The Bramley Campaign Group (BCG) has teamed up with Trinity Mirror Newspapers for the second time following on from last year’s success in a competition to find the family that best espouses the healthy-eating, wholesome values associated with the apple.

Up for grabs is a £5,000 holiday and competition entries are already being judged following full-page features in The Daily Mirror TV supplement as well as the national title and other regional titles in the group. The winning family will be announced in the colour spread within The Daily Mirror during Bramley week.

“We will also be doing a lot of radio interviews and are working with celebrity chefs to make sure Bramley gets as much coverage as possible during the week itself,” said Adrian Barlow of the BCG. “We have also been doing a massive amount of work with the retailers to get Bramley featured in store on pos material in the fresh-produce and manufactured-product aisles.”

The supply situation for the apple this season is also looking very favourable. This is the fourth season Empire World Trade has been involved in supplying Bramley from Fruitlink to retailers and the wholesale markets. “Following the last two years of tough growing conditions, we are in a position of having decent volumes of good quality Bramley,” said John Portass, grower and Fruitlink director. The large crop and high pack-out has been reflected in good market prices so far.

Fruitlink has used Smartfresh this year on a significant volume of Bramley this season. “We’re seeing fantastic results, and I’m confident we have very good quality fruit,” he said.