Why eat a Rubens®?

Described as tangy, sweet with a hint of melon in the flavour, Rubens® was described as tasting 'just as an apple ought to' by the panel of judges at the 2010 Britain's tastiest apple competition, naturally Rubens won the competition.... One of it's other interesting characteristics is that it fractures when you bite into it, a 'chunk' will break away when you bite in, the skin isn't tough and the flesh is light and crunchy. We all know that there is nothing worse than tough skin and a mushy apple, you'll never get that with a Rubens.

Why grow Rubens® England?

Rubens® apples were bred in Italy in the late 80's, from the start we are told that they were exceptional and stood out from the rest of the new varieties developed at that time. They are a cross between Gala and Elstar; in England we all know and love Gala, the sweet juicy favourite of many adults and children, Elstar is a huge favourite in much of Europe, it has a very distinct crunchy texture and is also very juicy. So you can see that there was a lot of sense in trying to find an apple that had the good points of both.

Moving on a few years and Staplehurst Grower Nigel Bardsley went to an important fruit industry show in Italy and was given a Rubens® to eat, he thought it was amazing and ordered a few trees to plant back at home to see if they liked growing in Kent. Not all apple varieties are suited to Britain, granny smith trees for instance, hate our climate and grow nasty hard, sour small apples here.

Happily Rubens® grow better here than anywhere else in the world; red, crunchy, juicy, sweet you can tick all the wish list boxes. Talking with growers they describe making the decision to pick very easy, the orchard 'glows' as the apples change from a green shade to a bright orange and red.

One of the other good characteristics inherited from it's Gala and Elstar parents includes the ability to develop a very sustainable orchard system. We all know that honey bees are hard workers and essential for good fruit growing, but if you look in a Rubens® Orchard at blossom time you will find an enormous range of pollinating bees and beetles. There are just 10 Rubens® growers in England, all of them in Kent and they have been working hard with Reading University and Bee guru Robin Dean to find the best way to pollinate fruit trees and the best way to manage an orchard to keep a big population of all the species that work the hardest.

The research has turned up some amazing results and is producing a new kind of orchard management plan that begins at planting where as much attention is paid to the flowering species in the grass mix under the Rubens® trees to the types and number of different shrubs and trees in the hedges. 'Bee hotels' are an important part of this design plan, special sites for solitary bee species liken the little red Mason bee who is 300 times more efficient than our friend the honey bee.