Tru-Cape marks April 17 as the birthday of our fruit industry.

On April 17, 1662 the Dutch Governor of the Cape made a 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 5 feet high. This type of apple is known as a Wijnappel. They weighed between 11 and 12 loot, there being not a grain of difference in weight between the two. They had been growing side by side, the one touching the other, and had reached maturity.”

The above is an extract from the book, Apples in the Early Days at The Cape, written by Tru-Cape’s Henk Griessel and Buks Nel.

Each year Tru-Cape marks April 17 as the birthday of the fruit industry in South Africa.