Made in Britain finalist: The Orchard Pig's Apple Juice

The Orchard Pig's apple juice and cider from Somerset made it to the finals in the Country Living, Waitrose and Farmers Guardian annual Made in Britain Awards.

Country Living magazine features local food producers every month - the Made in Britain Awards were launched by the magazine, together with Waitrose and Farmers Guardian, to reward those who are creating the best-quality and most innnovative foods, while keeping traditional skills alive. Five food producers of the year each received £5000 from Waitrose to develop their business. The overall Made in Britain Food Champion (selected from these five) received an additional £5000. Seven finalists were given the chance to have their product stocked in local branches of Waitrose. The Farmers Guardian Best Farm Entrepreneur will also receive £5000 from Waitrose.

 

It's fitting that Neil Macdonald and Andrew Quinlan should have named their business after the Gloucester Old Spot pig. Their shared love of this rare breed - known as the orchard pig for its penchant for windfall apples - is what brought them together five years ago. Andrew, a former Royal Marine (seen on the right in these pictures), was keeping pigs on his smallholding when he met Neil, the brother of a friend, who was already farming rare-breed pigs. With a mutual interest in food, the two became friends: when Andrew first pressed the juice from his fouracre orchard, Neil lent a hand.

 

Three years later, The Orchard Pig is bottling 100,000 bottles per year of single-variety apple juice and cider from Somerset orchards. The reason for its rapid growth is "Our ingredients are the best: our apples come off the tree perfectly ripe and go straight into the press" simple: its drinks taste as fresh as apples just picked from the tree. One of its bestsellers, which earned it a place among our finalists, is a lightly sparkling cloudy juice made from sweet Jonagold dessert apples. With its gentle bubbles and pearlike perfume, it can be served by itself or mixed with sparkling wine or vodka - its subtle sharpness is most pronounced when chilled.

 

"The key to a quality product is the best ingredients: our apples come off the tree perfectly ripe and go straight into the press," Andrew explains. Through their sister company, Westcountry Ground Force, he and Neil manage most of the orchards that supply their apples, taking charge of planting, pruning and harvesting on 600 acres across Somerset, in return for a share of the crop. "Being in control of the orchards ensures we get good-quality fruit," he adds. "Some apples go from branch to bottle in as little as 24 hours."

 

At the 70-acre West Bradley orchard near Glastonbury, where they press, pasteurise and bottle their still and sparkling refreshers, Neil and Andrew have just planted 8,500 new Jonagold and Falstaff trees. They also work with local farmers and landowners to restore old orchards and create new ones. "The success of The Orchard Pig has created a market for apples , giving people a reason to keep their orchards, which is great for biodiversity as they support 10 times more species than a field," Neil says.

 

As they're not for eating, the apples' appearance is less important so pesticide application has been reduced to around a quarter of what's typical on a commercial eating-apple orchard. "We use moth traps to control common pests and plant cover strips to encourage beneficial insect activity," Neil says. "Prunings and pomace (leftover pulp) are made into a mulch to suppress weeds and improve soil."

 

Neil's land-management skills and Andrew's marketing flair - he sold pet food and Bacardi after the Marines - are a potent mix, which has helped The Orchard Pig find its way into around 200 delis and farm shops nationwide. Pride in their place and their product drives this charismatic pair and underlies their visible contentment. "We love what we do, we work in a beautiful place and we still treasure that moment when someone tastes our drinks for the first time."

 

The Orchard Pig (01458 851222; www.orchardpig.co.uk)

 

Find all of this year's Made in Britain Awards winners here 

 

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