BRAMLEY APPLE WEEK, 5th – 12th FEBRUARY, 2012…

Its Bramely Apple Week 5th – 12th February, 2012. We all love the truly British Bramley apple but I bet you didn’t know that the first Bramley apple tree was grown from pips planted in 1809 by Mary Ann Brailsford, in the garden at her home in Nottinghamshire (not far from me).

Over the years the house changed hands and in 1856 while a butcher called Matthew Bramley was living in the house a gentleman called Henry Merryweather asked Mr Bramley if he could take some cuttings from the apple tree and start to sell the apples. Mr Bramley agreed to this, on the proviso that the apples were called after him. However in 1900 the original apple tree was blown down during a bad storm, but miraculously it didn’t die but survived and still bears fruit to this day, over 200 years after it was first planted.

In 2003 the Bramley apple tree was one of fifty British trees chosen by the Tree Council to mark Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee.

To celebrate the Bramley you can take the New Bramley Classic Challenge The Bramley apple pie and crumble are two of the nation’s favourite desserts, but now we are looking for another Bramley ‘classic’ worthy of sitting alongside them.

We have teamed up with Mark Hix, award-winning restaurateur, star of The Great British Menu and author of Hix Oyster and Chop House, British Seasonal Food and British Regional Food, to call upon you to invent a new classic dessert that uses that most British of ingredients, the Bramley apple.

Perhaps it’s an old family favourite you’ve been cooking for years or maybe you fancy
inventing something from scratch, either way, let your imagination run wild and if
Mark thinks yours is the most creative ‘classic’ then you will win a cookery masterclass
with Mark and if that was not enough, your dish will take pride of place on the menu
at HIX restaurants. For more details go to the website http://bramleyapples.co.uk/bramley_classics_entry_form.html