[Lucysgirl]

I'm nodding my head at this point Margaret:

You said:-
"Many varieties of apples have died out because they did not meet the EU criteria.....this was not because they were not good to eat, but because some bureaucrat had deemed them to be illegal to sell( I long for a lovely Russet Apple...But never ever see them nowadays)".

A whole pub full of us were incredulous that they wouldn't accept our baking apple. I'm sure we all like the continental apple strudel with its addition of nutmeg to taste but you still can't beat the tasty British (baking) Apple pie, which used to be far less pricey than the other varieties..

Cox's orange pippins has always been my favourite but I mostly blame the supermarkets for the decline and disappearance of many of our once popular apple varieties. Their excuse being that their customers would only accept perfectly formed fruit such as the newly invented but tasteless French "golden delicious". I notice this last year or so that the supermarket has started putting a few baking apples on their shelves but the price is exhorbitant, probably due to its rarity these days.