If you can count on one thing at this time of year it is that there will be a heated exchange in the national media over the various perceived merits of apple varieties.

This does not imply a lack of nationalism on my behalf, but sometimes I wish that a degree of reality would temper some of these comments and opinions.

The UK is no exception, with calls for the restarting of commercial production of what are loosely now called heritage varieties.

This usually occurs at the same time every autumn when the excellent and unique collection at Brogdale attracts journalists’ attention, who tend to forget that many of these often ancient varieties have suffered the same fate having been subjected to the same commercial pressures to remain profitable that are felt today.

The fact is that consumer demand continues to change and these tastes have always been reflected on retail shelves. What is different is that in recent years the pace has accelerated as worldwide breeding programmes offer more and more alternatives.

English Gala and Braeburn have become two of the backbones of our industry, having made the successful transition from New Zealand where they were first raised. Yet I can attest there was a time when, attending the annual National Fruit Show, I was howled down when I suggested these were becoming as popular as Cox.

As the debate goes on it underlines the reality that consumers enjoy a wide range of choice, further reflected through the volumes of imported apples which come to these shores.

Pink Lady and Jazz are two recent examples of success, but at the same time there are still customers who enjoy Granny Smith, Red and Golden Delicious.

Criticism of the latter even reached a crescendo when some MPs on a fact-finding parliamentary committee went as far as to claim that they had little flavour and were simply being dumped in this country during the Anglo-French apple wars of the seventies. But this variety is still on the shelves because, like others, it is still in demand year round.

If not exactly a repeat performance, the Daily Mail recently carried a story questioning why Chinese Fuji, widely stocked by most multiples for many years, were being sold in Kent, our own top-fruit industry’s Garden of Eden.

Even before advertising became the vast multi-million pound investment vehicle that is part of modern marketing, one of the best food slogans to be hatched re-enforced the general belief that an apple a day was good for you.

But while encompassing the credible message of both health and enjoyment, its generic nature fell short of defining any specific varieties. That perhaps was its greatest contribution to the first real campaign to eat more fruit.