21 October is Apple Day

This Wednesday is Apple Day, an annual event that has been organised by the charity Common Ground to celebrate apples, orchards and local distinctiveness.

There are many ways to celebrate the big day, with events taking place all over the country, including invitations to participate in the Longest Peel competition. Would you believe the record for the longest unbroken piece of apple peel is 52.51m long.

I won't be challenging the record, but I have to admit that apples are one of my favourite fruit, not least because they are inexpensive but also because they are so versatile. Not only are they delicious eaten fresh from the tree but are also flavoursome when added to desserts or even soups.

For me, they really do represent the taste of autumn and I've already found a lovely list of Suffolk varieties which I hope to start researching soon. The Suffolk Pink comes highly recommended, thanks to my recent taste tests.

My personal plans for celebrating this year's Apple Day is to bake an "Apple cut-and-come-again Cake" which can be found in the fabulous Grown in Britain Cookbook. It really is delicious on its own as a snack or served up with custard. It also kills two birds with one stone, as this week is National Baking Week too.

However, if you're not up for a bit of baking, you can still get involved in celebrating Apple Day.

• You could follow the advice of Monty Don and the Gardeners World team and plant an apple tree in your garden or school.
• Or you might like to show your support for Community Orchards by saving old ones or planting new.
• If you're keen to help reduce waste, why not follow the example of Suffolk's "Share-an-apple" volunteers and ask local apple growers\gardeners if you can scrump their spare produce to share with good causes.
  

And if you've got some apples spare yourself, you could try creating your own unpackaged dried fruit. Mrs Green over at MyZeroWaste has got some great advice on a whole variety of methods you could use.

There's lots you can do to celebrate the great British apple, so if you get a chance, please pop over to the Apple Day website for more info.
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