With the coming UK season signifying the 10th anniversary of British grown JAZZ™ apples, Kent-based grower Peter Chandler has helped the special variety celebrate in style after his JAZZ™ won the much-coveted ‘Tastiest Apple’ title at the National Fruit Show 2017/2018.
Taking place on the 25th and 26th of October at the Kent Event Centre, the National Fruit Show is the biggest celebration of the UK’s commercially grown top fruit and soft fruit with all the leading players and growers in attendance.
The centrepiece of the show is the hotly-contested awards featuring 60 different categories showcasing the best of British fresh produce.
JAZZ™ showcased why it’s so popular when it comes to taste, flavour and crunch after scooping first and second prize in the ‘Tastiest Apple’ category. It’s the third time in five years that JAZZ™ has won the ‘Tastiest Apple’ award.
This year, the first placed JAZZ™ were grown by Peter Chandler and the team at Chandler and Dunn, who have been farming the East Kent landscape for over 200 years, and the JAZZ™ grown by Simon Bray of Monks Farms in Kent picked up second place in the contest.
Gary Harrison, of Worldwide Fruit Ltd and the UK Commercial Manager for JAZZ™, commented: “What a way to celebrate the start of the UK Northern Hemisphere JAZZ™ season and celebrate the 10th anniversary of British grown JAZZ™! We’re absolutely thrilled to see the variety claim the top two places in the category but the praise has to go to the Chandler and Dunn team for their hard work. The taste and quality of a JAZZ™ is unlike any other and its rise since the first trees bared fruit in 2007 has been nothing short of meteoric. Winning this prestigious award will hopefully help introduce the variety to even more consumers and further cement the variety’s place as the ‘apple to watch’ in the coming years.”
Commenting on the win, Peter Chandler of Chandler and Dunn, said: “We were amongst the first UK growers to plant JAZZ™ trees so it’s great to win this award as the variety hits its 10-year British milestone. Credit has to go to my team as they have worked their socks off but JAZZ™ has all the attributes a fruit grower wants so it’s a pleasure to grow. When it comes to taste, there’s no doubt it’s a winner and no surprise that its popularity grows year on year as do the number of trophies it wins!”
Sarah Calcutt, Chair of the National Fruit Show, said: “The ‘tastiest apple’ category is always one of the most competitive awards at the show and one which all the growers value so it’s a great achievement for the JAZZ™ variety to scoop first and second place. A huge hats off to Peter and the Chandler and Dunn team plus Simon Bray!”
The JAZZ™Journey
JAZZ™ apples are a funky fusion of a Braeburn and a Royal Gala. The first British JAZZ™ apple crop hit the shops in November 2007 with Greg Wallace helping grower Paul Mansfield to launch the variety in style.
Fast forward 10 years and JAZZ™ is the joint fastest-growing apple variety in the UK and recently overtook Golden Delicious to become the 6th most popular variety with over 125,000,000 consumed last year alone – that’s around two for every man, woman and child. The retail value of the brand now stands at £44million, an increase of 19% year on year.
Now available in Aldi, Asda, Booths, Co-op, Lidl, Morrisons, M&S, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose, JAZZ™ had a brand refresh earlier this year and are a global favourite grown in over ten countries around the world under a closely controlled quality growing programme managed by T&G Global.
