FRUIT
There’s eating and drinking in them
“Consumer demand is more than
adequate”, says Con Trass
I
rish consumers want to eat Irish apples, and are continually “disappointed that they can’t get Irish apples in
their local supermarkets”. So says
Con Traas, Chairperson of the Irish
Apple Growers Association. “Consumer demand is more than adequate,” he says. In
what is a small seasonal sector, one of the
biggest historical problems the association’s 40 grower members face is in dealing with multiple retailers who want to
treat them “as if they were buying items
from a factory where output volume is easily controlled, and plannable in advance,”
says Traas.” Supermarkets want guaranteed price tenders, “before a grower will
even know what their crop will be like that
year. Then if the grower is short, he or she
would have to buy to make up the shortfall,
but because there are so few growers, this
might not be possible.”
But the good news is that the future looks
rosy for Irish apples. “In terms of flavour
and texture, the quality of Irish apples has
never been better,” says Traas. Today’s
growers are exploring alternative routes to
26 |THE IRISH TIMES | March 26, 2014
markets. In recent years, there have been a
growing number of producers developing
innovative and award-winning apple-based products, from Longueville’s apple brandy to various import substitutions
such as Llewellyn’s apple balsamic vinegar
and Highbank Orchard Syrup, an apple-based alternative to imported maple
syrup. These may remain niche products,
says Traas, “but still require quite a volume
of apples to make, and they also raise the
profile of Irish apples and Irish apple producers.”
What is having the most impact for growers has been the expanding craft cider market. “The craft ciders sell at significant volumes, and because most of them use close
to 100 per cent apple, they have the ability
to take a lot of apples produced in Irish orchards,” says Traas.
Emma Tyrrell of Cider Ireland believes it
is a “very exciting time to be involved in cider-making”. She argues that Irish craft cider makes for a dry, food-friendly alternative to “sugary, mass-produced alcopop”
style ciders; a gluten-free alternative to
beer; and a low-alcohol and locally produced alternative to wine. “At the moment
there is enough supply [of Irish apples] to
meet demand but should the cider industry
continue in the direction it’s going, and at
the same rate, then we may well be looking
at a dearth of apples in the future. An apple
tree would usually not produce fruit for cider-making for about four years, so now
may be the time to get planting.”
Shane Francis
TheConnemaraPieCompany
FOCUS FOCUS
Irish apple growers are
developing innovative
apple-based products
such as craft cider,
writes Aoife Carrigy
The Connemara Pie Company is
one of those brand names that
sounds as if it has been around
forever, but in fact it’s fresh out of
the oven.
“I had a background in restaurants and saw a niche in the
market for a fixed-price,
high-quality product for the food
service industry,” say