Remembering the picking of the first apples

If you’d like to listen to a 20-minute Radio Helderberg interview with Tru-Cape’s Roelf Pienaar and Buks Nel about marking the picking of the first apples on April 17,

Thanks to excellent record keeping, we know that the first apple, a Wijnappel, at the Cape was picked at The Company Gardens on April 17 1662.

Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing, the largest distributor of South African apples and pears, is marking this day with a lunch, talk and tree-planting on Friday April 17 in Grabouw. A Winter Saffron pear tree made from a cutting of the oldest living pear tree, still in The Company Gardens, will be planted in Tru-Cape’s Heritage Orchard at Oak Valley Estate, Grabouw.

According to Tru-Cape’s Quality Assurance Manager Henk Griessel and co-author with Tru-Cape varietal expert Buks Nel of Early Apples at The Cape, on the 17th of April 1662 Jan van Riebeeck made this historic entry in his diary:  “Heavy drizzle in the morning and a strong north-westerly wind blowing in from the sea. Today the first two ripe Dutch apples were picked in the Company’s nursery garden. They came from a little tree no more than 1.5 meters. This type of apple is known as a Wijnappel. Griessel  says that the first apple weighed between 165g and 180g. “It was a historic day and date to be remembered by every South African apple grower. We hope that our replanting of some of the older varieties in the Tru-Cape Heritage Orchard at Oak Valley Estate, Grabouw will be seen to be as significant in years to come.”

According to Tru-Cape Managing Director Roelf Pienaar, this year, Tru-Cape celebrates this agricultural milestone with an apple and pear inspired lunch at The Pool Room Restaurant on Oak Valley Estate on April 17 with talks by the authors as well as by Dr Annalien Dalton who not only will bake and share apple pies with early heirloom varieties, no longer in commercial production, but will talk also about how culinary tastes have changed over the years. Bookings for the lunch are available via www.Quicket.co.za

Tru-Cape markets more than 1 376 470 875 apples and pears each year, equivalent to 224 Jumbo Jets or 950 Blue Whales.