Apple Day & Apple Weekend: where and how to celebrate

By Klaudia Mihalova

Published: Thursday, 21 October 2021 at 12:00 am

The apple is a firm favourite in the British fruit bowl, but peel back its humble exterior and you’ll realise that the apple has a huge part to play in our culture and the ecology around us. Set up in 1990 by the charity Common Ground, Apple Day was intended to be both a celebration of the fruit’s diversity and a demonstration of the variety of apples we are in danger of losing. The first Apple Day was held in the old Apple Market in London’s Covent Garden, bringing fruit back to the market after 16 years absence. The event brought together apple growers and nurseries; cider makers and juice pressers; illustrators and writers. Celebrated on or around the 21 October every year – increasingly the ‘apple weekend’ has become popular, being the weekend between the 21st and the end of the month – apple celebrations encourage people to organise their own events to bring together families, schools and communities.

This year you’ll find a string of events taking place on Saturday 23 October (see below for details).

If you want to host your own event, the apples themselves must be the stars. We’ve picked out a few fun activities and recipes to help you find some inspiration to host your own event.

Activities for Apple Day

Here are three fun activities to celebrate Apple Day.

Printing with apples

To make the blocks, cut the apples in half in both directions, to get either a circle with a star or a classic apple profile with a stem. Add in a few crab apples to give yourselves different sizes to choose from. Use paint from ready-mixed sample pots, painting the surface of the apple with a brush, and pressing it firmly down on to a piece of card.

Longest apple peel competition

This game can be won twice over: by the person who cuts off the longest, unbroken peel and by the person who guesses the longest apple peel before they’re hung up. There’s a superstition that if a single woman tosses the peel over her left shoulder it will land in the shape of the first letter of her future husbands name.

Apple bobbing

This game, often associated with Halloween, dates back to Roman Britain. It was the Romans who introduced the apple to these islands. The tree represented the Pomona the goddess of fruitful abundance and fertility, and on her feast day they would bob for apples, with the first unmarried person to bite one becoming the next person who would be allowed to marry. Today it sorts the brave from the squeamish, especially if you tie arms behind the back to stop cheating.

Recipes to celebrate apple day

Apples can be used to make both sweet and savoury dishes and should of course, be accompanied by local pressed juice and cider. Many people have a favourite apple recipe that they’re willing to make and bring to share. If you want to keep it simple, a big cauldron full of Pumpkin and apple soup, followed by slices of Apple Cake (see recipe below) is a tasty way to please the crowds.

Apple cake

6 cooking or eating apples
1tbsp ground cinnamon
400g (plus 5tbsp) granulated sugar
345g plain flour
1tbsp baking powder
1tsp salt
240ml vegetable oil
4tbsp orange juice
21/2tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
130g walnuts, chopped (optional)
Icing sugar and dried apple rings to finish

Peel, core and chop apples into 1-2cm chunks. Toss with cinnamon and 5tbsp of granulated sugar, set side. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl whisk together the oil, orange juice, 400g granulated sugar, vanilla extract and eggs. Stir wet ingredients into dry ones. Stir in the walnuts if using.

Pour half the batter into a buttered 25cm cake tin. Spread half the apple chunks over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples in the tin, arrange remaining apples on top. Bake at 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4 for 1.5 hours, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool completely before removing from tin. Dust with icing sugar and dried apple rings.

Toffee Apples

200g golden granulated sugar
1tsp white wine vinegar
125ml maple syrup
25g butter
6 small, sweet eating apples, washed

Dissolve the sugar in 100ml water over gentle heat. Add vinegar, maple syrup and butter. Boil for 5-10 minutes, until thickened to a caramel. Push a stick into each apple and dip it to coat with caramel (warm caramel if it begins to thicken too much). Allow to cool.

Mulled Cider

2 litres good-quality cider
1 apple (for decoration)
6 cloves (stud them into the decorative apple)
3-4 star anise
¼ a nutmeg, grated into the pan
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla pod, halved
Juice and zest of 1 orange
Juice of 2 clementines
Juice and seeds of 1 pomegranate
4-5tbsp caster sugar

Pour cider into large pan on low heat for a few minutes. Add the apple and all spices, and juices, and turn up the heat. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and leave to tick away for 5-8 minutes. If you are doing this on a fire, you can raise the pan a little further away from the heat to cool to a simmer.
Add more sugar to taste.

Pumpkin and Apple Soup
Serves 6

2 onions, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
500g pumpkin, skinned, seeded and cubed
2 baking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
570ml vegetables stock
300ml dry cider or apple juice
2 sprigs fresh sage
salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat oil in large saucepan. Add onions and garlic, cook for 2 minutes, then add the pumpkin, chopped apples and sage. Cook for another 2 minutes, season well and add stock and cider or apple juice. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the ingredients are tender.
Liquidise and serve piping hot.

Apple, Leek and Stilton Tarts
Serves 6

For pastry:

350g plain flour
½ tsp salt
170g butter cubed
1 egg
2-3 tbsp cold water

For filling:

1 medium leek trimmed
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium dessert apple, unpeeled, cored and cut into 8mm cubes
3 large eggs
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
225g Stilton trimmed of rind and crumbled

Rub the butter into the flour and salt until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the egg and using a knife stir in just enough cold water to bind the dough together. Wrap in cling film and chill for 15 minutes. Roll out, cut into discs, using a saucer as a template, and press into the pre-greased muffin tin. Leave to rest in a cool place for at least 1 hour. Bake blind at 170°C/Gas 3 for with baking beans for 20 minutes, then bake empty for 5-10 minutes, until golden brown. Leave to cool.

Cut the leeks into strips and wash, drain and cut again into 6mm x 15mm bits. Heat butter in a heavy skillet and add the leeks and apples. Cook over a medium heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes, then let cool. Lightly beat the eggs and add the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Distribute the leeks and apples evenly between the tart shells. Sprinkle the crumbled Stilton between the apples and leeks. Pour the custard over the top. Bake at 150°C/300°F/Gas 2 until the custard just sets in the middle, about 30 minutes.

Events around apple day

This year Apple Day events are few and far between but more will be confirmed in the coming weeks. You can find many more on the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) website.