Simon Bray’s Jazz Apples finished top of the tree in the ‘Tastiest Apple’ category at the National Fruit Show recently. Weystreet Farms and Chandler & Dunn made it a clean sweep for Jazz and Kent, finishing second and third respectively.
Champion grower Bray, whose Jazz Apples were also voted ‘The Taste of Kent Awards Garden of England Top Apple’ at the show, said: “The team has worked its socks off and we are all over the moon, but the acclaim has to go to such an amazing apple variety. It’s the ‘special one’ of the orchard. Jazz has all the attributes a grower wants and when it comes to taste, people absolutely love it so we really can’t take all the credit.”
The Jazz Apple is a cross between the nation’s two most popular varieties by volume: the Royal Gala and Braeburn. First planted in the UK in 2006, the variety has quickly become a favourite of growers and consumers, with over 100 million Jazz Apples now being eaten each year in the UK.
“The Jazz Apple speaks for itself when it comes to taste, and continues to win over more fans and awards,” said Jazz Apple commercial manager Gary Harrison. “Hats off to the growers who have been hard at work as usual to get the best out of the trees to produce Jazz Apples of such quality that it appears no other variety can get near them.”
“The ‘Tastiest Apple’ competition is always one that the growers value and for the last few years we have had two new varieties battling it out, Rubens and Jazz,” said Sarah Calcutt, National Fruit Show chairman. “In 2013, Rubens took the crown back from Jazz. However, this year saw a clean sweep for Jazz, taking first, second and third.”
Available all year round in the leading supermarkets and wholesale markets, the variety was first created in New Zealand, whose growers supply the UK from May to October. The 2014 British crop hits the shops in November.
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