This week, The English Apple Man joined the judging panel for the Marden Fruit Show Juice Competition
The annual juice competition attracts juices from all over England and this year entries from Scotland as well.
This was The English Apple Man's 'first time' as a judge in this competition; held at the historic Bradbourne House in East Malling in Kent. On Monday we worked as two taste panels, each with 3 tasters; one panel tasted the 'blended' juices while the second panel (including The EAM) tasted 'single' variety juices.
Below: Robert Oliver
The judging was overseen by Robert Oliver - Vice Chairman of Marden Fruit Show Society and Norma Thompsett - Assistant Show Secretary who organised the samples for tasting.
Entries were received from the West Midlands, East Midlands, Norfolk, Kent and even as far as Scotland.
In total 42 entries; some single variety and some blended.......most with another apple or pear but some with an eclectic mix of blends, including Parsnip, Raspberry, Beetroot et al....
There are a number of rules; among them; the competition is open to any commercial producer with an additional prize for those pressed 'on farm' - the juice must be made 'only' from sound fruit and conforming to the Code of Practice for the Production of Apple Juice. There are 11 rules in total..........
Below: Norma Thompsett
There are three classes:
Class 40 - Blended Apple Juice (two or more named varieties)
Class 41 - Single variety Juice (single named variety)
Class 42 - Blended Juices (a fruit based blend, which must have a minimum of 50% English Apple/Pear and any fruit, flower, vegetable)
Judging Taste (0-10) - Aroma (0-5) - Colour (0-5) - Homogeneity (0-5) (cloudy juices only) and Clarity (0-5) after the 'first round' of tasting it was necessary to re-taste those in the top order with the same marks, before the Class winners could be determined.
The results will be announced at the Marden Fruit Show AGM in April...........and published soon after
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMR Tree Fruit Day
Below: David Neill - MD NIAB EMR
On Tuesday 23rd February East Malling Research held their annual tree fruit day; but before the programme got under way, an announcement from David Neill - MD NIAB EMR.
NIAB - the 'NATIONAL INSTITUTE of AGRICULTURAL BOTANY has amalgamated with EMR (East Malling Research) integrating EMR the major organisation in the UK for research on horticultural crops and plants with NIAB creates a much stronger organisation for Agricultural & Horticultural research NIAB EMR.
NIAB EMR is part of the NIAB group.
The combined organisation employing 300 staff and with a turnover of more than £22 million will provide log term stability, scale and capacity for investment. This represents a major step forward in NIAB's plans to lead the UK in crop innovation and to grow to become a £40 million turnover business by 2025.
Who's Who.....
Dr. Tina Barsby - Chief Executive NIAB: David Neill - Managing Director NIAB EMR: Stuart Knight - Director of Research.
Below: NIAB Timeline
The EMR Tree Fruit Day Programme
The day covered many important topics; Canker control - Developing safe spray programmes for protecting earwigs - Increasing hoverfly populations in apple orchards - The Advantages of wild flower strips in orchard fruit - "Who has eaten all the aphids? - Post harvest treatment of cherries - Optimising Gala flavour in long term storage - The latest research into fruit wall production systems - Improving irrigation control in apple and cherries.
The English Apple Man will cover some of the aspects in the coming weeks....
That is all for this week......sorry this Journal is shorter than usual, but my wife and I are travelling to London this afternoon (Friday 26th) as it is my 'young' brother's Landmark Birthday Lunch on Saturday....
Take care
The English Apple Man