Apple Day

Today is the date that Britain celebrates the humble apple and the bountiful orchards that can be found throughout the country. From eating and cooking to juicing and even Halloween apple bobbing, there’s so many reasons to give thanks for this extraordinary fruit.

The United Kingdom boasts over 2.500 different varieties of apple tree, some of which are incredibly ancient. Numerous lost species can still be found nestled away in countyside fields and back-gardens and one of the popular undertakings to do on Apple Day is to seek out these mysterious trees and to identify them. The apple is particularly special to us as the Broken Clock Vodka recipe contains three baskets of slow-ripened, windfall apples taken from the orchard trees at Shandy Hall in North Yorkshire.

As well as an old Bramley Apple tree and a gnarled Crab Apple tree there is a third tree we harvest from which is an as-yet-unknown local variety. Perhaps one Apple Day we will be able to pinpoint its exact name but in the meantime we’ll raise a class to its distinctive taste and the contribution it makes to our vodka and its long lingering flavour.