Slow Food tags New Zealand Apple

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Slow Food tags New Zealand Apple

The New Zealand Oratia Beauty apple is listed as an endergered heirloom fruit by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity.

The iconic West Auckland Oratia Beauty apple has boarded the Ark of Taste, the online Slow Food catalogue that gather important heirloom and traditional products from around the worlds.

Oratia Beauty apple is a sport (a strain that arose from a bud mutation) of the Albany Beauty apple, which in turn was a sport of the Gravenstein. The apple was found on the orchard of Mr. Mate Glucina in Oratia, Auckland and recorded as a new variety of apple with the New Zealand Institute of Horticulture in 1932. It has a wonderful crisp, juicy, tart flavor and round to slightly flattened fruit. It is suitable for eating, cooking and cider making.

The fruit matures at different times on the tree requiring ongoing harvesting and does not keep as well as other varieties, making it less appealing to retail outlets, therefore at risk of disappearing because the New Zealand apple industry is export-focused on “new” varieties of apple that can be trademarked.

Today many of the traditional orchards have disappeared but the Oratia Beauty is still grown commercially by some in the area, with an estimated 50 trees in production. The Oratia Beauty Apple is in season right now and you can buy it direct at the Dragicevich Orchard, 556 West Coast Road, Oratia, Auckland.

Ark of Taste: http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/ark/details/2569/oratia-beauty-apple#.VNwFd0v5vwJ

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