The apples have been in Kentish Tesco stores from August 4, and Sainsbury's nationwide from August 7 – a week earlier than expected for both retailers.

Tesco's apple buyer Simon Latham said: 'We congratulate our Kent farmers on growing very early Discovery and want to reward local people by giving them the chance to tuck into this first batch of the year before they hit the national shelves a few days later.' While Sainsbury's apple buyer Marcus Hoggarth told the Journal: 'The recent spells of good weather have brought the first English apples to market slightly earlier than we expected, and we are delighted to have excellent quality eating fruit available for our customers. This will give us an excellent start to what we hope will be a great English season for all parts of the supply chain and customers alike.' The recent hot weather accelerated the apples' development, helping them to ripen sooner than usual, and enhancing their size and coloration.

Claire Donovan, Tesco's technical manager for apples said: 'We have seen fantastic growing conditions over the past week. The contrast between the hot spell and the cooler weather prior to that is near perfect for Discovery, as it develops and deepens their rich skin colour.' Discovery will be followed by English apples including Worcester in early September, and this will be followed by early Windsor and Spartan which become available later on in that month.

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