News for Growers
Bramley Diamond Dishes Competition
The Bramley Campaign is very proud to be launching a competition open to consumers and professional chefs to create a new Bramley celebration ‘Diamond Dish’ to honour Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The overall winner will receive a cash prize of £500 whilst all the regional winners will receive awards. All the entries will be judged by a panel of food experts including renowned food critic, Prue Leith. A shortlist of seven regional winners will be picked to go to the public vote during Bramley Apple Week (5-12 February 2012). Additionally, the winning dish will be developed commercially and sold exclusively in Sainsbury’s stores in time for the Jubilee celebrations.
The competition is proud to have renowned chef and food writer Prue Leith on the judging panel. Her long and varied culinary career includes owning Michelin Star Restaurant Leith’s and judging the BBC television show Great British Menu: her knowledge and expertise will be invaluable.
The renowned Craft Guild of Chefs and BBC Good Food are official partners of Bramley Diamond Dishes and will be promoting the competition via their websites and e-newsletters. If you fancy adding ‘Creator of the Bramley Diamond Dish’ to your CV then get your thinking caps on and your entries in. Enter the competition via the Bramley Apple Facebook page. Deadline for entries is midnight on 16 January 2012 to enter, click here for further details.
National Fruit Show
The Bramley Campaign was present at The National Fruit Show, from 19 – 20 October at The Kent Showground in Detling again this year. The event boasts the largest competitive display of commercially grown top fruit staged in the UK and plays host to events such as the tastiest apple competition and The Great Debate, chaired by Rt.Hon.Michael Jack, MFSS President and HSBC Food and Farming advisor. The Bramley Campaign’s stand was very popular and over 1,000 hot Bramley apple pie samples were served to hungry guests over the two days
Countryside Live
Countryside Live took place at the Great Yorkshire Showground from 20 – 21 October and the Bramley Campaign was again on hand to sample hot Bramley apple pies over the course of the show. The feedback was very positive with guests remarking that the apple and pastry were amongst the best they had ever tasted. Around 4,000 samples were served to attendees and hundreds of copies of recipe leaflets were given out together with large numbers of posters for use in schools.
With the positive interest in the Bramley website and the Facebook page it is anticipated that this activity will help to increase sales of Bramleys in the coming weeks.
Market Update
The final figures for this year’s overall English Bramley crop have been calculated and they show an 18% reduction in total tonnage, compared with last year. Growers and marketing organisations estimate that the crop available for sale to the fresh market will be 9% lower than last year, which will result in supply barely meeting demand.
Sales to date this season reflect an abnormally large garden crop together with the usually warm weather during September and October. Sales are lower than at the same time last year, but in other parts of Europe sales have fallen even further and there it is suggested the reduction in demand is due to adverse publicity surrounding E.coli and the lack of cold weather.
In terms of retail activity, a key performer has been Sainsbury’s who have increased their share of the Bramley market from 23.4% to 29.6%. It is hoped that once temperatures fall, sales will begin to increase despite the tough economic climate facing many UK consumers and the large garden crop.
Are you a Bramley fan? Join hundreds of others and sign up to our Facebook page here.
Diary Dates
Bramley Apple Week: 5-12 February 2012
Feedback
We’d love to hear your thoughts about the Campaign. Which elements are most beneficial and what would you like to see more of? Please see below for contact details
Contacts
To give feedback – The Bramley Apple Information Service
Tel: 020 7052 8951
Email: info@bramleyapples.co.uk
Information and recipes – www.bramleyapples.co.uk
Website for teachers and children – www.bramleykids.com
