Apples - British to the Core
Horticulturalist Chris Beardshaw uncovers the British contribution to the history of our most iconic fruit. He reveals the 'golden age', when the passion and dedication of Victorian gardeners gave us more varieties than anywhere else in the world. Chris also finds out how the remarkable ingenuity of a small group of 20th century British scientists helped create the modern mass-market apple. Britain has more varieties of apple than anywhere else in the world. At the National Fruit Collection, Joan Morgan explains why. Ian Sturrock cultivates rare Welsh fruit trees and has discovered an extraordinary apple growing, against all the odds, on Bardsey Island. Chris visits the 200 year old Bramley tree, still growing strong in a garden in Nottinghamshire. Apples An apple is a sweet, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (Malus pumila). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide, and are the most widely grown species in the genus Malus. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild