The almost perfect combination of warm days and cold nights in the last few months has resulted in a very good quality crop of Discovery apples.

And those excellent growing conditions have led to Paddock Wood Top Fruit marketing company Norman Collett Ltd winning the unofficial UK ‘apple run’.

On Tuesday morning the first Discovery apples went on sale at Tesco’s Pembury store near Tonbridge – earlier than at any other supermarket.

Said Tesco apple buyer David Croxson: “To most people the British summer so far may have seemed a damp squib but it has resulted in a very good growing conditions for Discovery – traditionally the first apples of the season.

“A good amount of rainfall in May and June combined with normal summer temperatures and the last week’s heat wave has created nice, firm, juicy Discovery apples with a good crunch factor.

“As a result Kent residents are the envy of the nation as they will be the first to get their hands on these apples.

“There is always an unofficial race by growers to get the first apples in store and this one has been won by growers across Kent who supply Colletts.”

The English apple industry produces around 1.6 billion apples each year which are harvested from the end of July through till mid October.

Growers started picking and packing their apples this week and are transporting them to local Tesco stores now.

The rest of Kent will get the apples from Sunday August 3 and stores nationwide will receive them from Sunday August 10.

All of Tesco’s Kent growers will collectively send out an estimated 2 million Discovery apples over the next four weeks until the arrival of Worcester and early Windsors in late August.

They will also provide top quality Gala, Egremont Russet, Braeburn, Cameo and Cox apples plus Conference and Comice pears this season.

Added Tesco’s David Croxson: “Tesco is committed to increasing the amount of English grown apples it sells this year and we’re hoping to reach record sales of 150 million apples.”

Norman Collett Ltd have been supplying apples and pears to Tesco for 20 years.  Our growers are all Kent based and represent 23% of Top fruit production in the UK

Fruit quality is looking exceptional and strong sales are expected as customer start picking up UK apples and pears again as they come into season.

There is tremendous support for locally grown apples and pears as customers become concerned about where the fruit they eat is grown and how far it has travelled.