Jeremy's Blog

January 2012

So we are already 4 weeks into the New Year and I haven’t had chance to wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2012!

Yep folks we are busy even in January, where we begin much of our sales preparation for the Chilly Billy season which usually kicks in around April.  With the milder weather that we have been experiencing recently however, perhaps the warmer weather will arrive even earlier this year. Although as I write this, the Cotswolds are covered in a light dressing of frost everywhere I look. Perhaps a mug of our Hot Apple and Cinnamon would be more suitable right now!

I wanted to kick of my blog for 2012 by talking about what we believe makes Bensons Totally Fruity so great…no it’s not me and the team (but we do help!); it is of course the great British apple.  Everyone no doubt is familiar with the phrase “An apple a day keeps the Doctor away”, but what are the origins to this saying?  Well according to the history books, the phrase is said to originate from Pembrokeshire in Wales in the year 1866. The phrase made an appearance in the February 1866 edition of the Notes and Queries magazine and read:

“"A Pembrokeshire proverb. Eat an apple on going to bed, and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread."

 Since then there have been a number of variations of the rhyme and in 1913 Elizabeth Wright wrote a Devonian dialect version in her book ‘Rustic Speech and Folk-lore:

"Ait a happle avore gwain to bed, An' you'll make the doctor beg his bread"

With this in mind, it certainly seems that apples have a justified claim in promoting wellbeing and a healthy lifestyle.  They contain Vitamin C, which aid the immune system and phenols, which reduce cholesterol. It has also been suggested that the quercetin found in apples protects brain cells against neuro-degenerative disorders like Alzheimer's Disease.

Now to the sad news though; British orchards have faced decades of decline, with an estimated two-thirds of orchards lost since 1960 owing to changes in land use. This has led to a dramatic loss in important wildlife territory in addition to the danger of losing traditional and local varieties of fruit including apples, pears and cherries.  Apple trees provide habitats for a variety of species including the Lesser Spotter Woodpecker as well as providing valuable sources of pollen and nectar for busy bees.

So it is essential to me that we make our own contribution to prevent further decline of UK orchards and at Bensons we do this by using only the finest British apples to make our products.  Therefore you can rest assured that whenever you buy a product with the name Totally Fruity or Chilly Billy on its label, you know that you are buying British!