Every autumn in Oxford, thousands of apples go to waste. Large trees in gardens, on allotments, near institutions provide too much, too suddenly – or are the responsibility of no one person. Their fruit ripens, drops and rots. But what if, instead, all this produce could be turned into juice? This is the thinking that drives the quiet revolution of Tiddly Pommes apple juice.

“I’ve always hated waste” explains Rupert, the man behind Tiddly Pommes. “I realised that someone should be doing what I am doing”. A musician by training, an environmentalist and engineer by inclination, Rupert has been making juice from Oxford’s unwanted fruit for ten years. When I meet Rupert to help with picking, he is midway through bottling 2013’s latest batch. “Here, try this”. He passes me a glass. I’ve had pear juice before, but found it too sweet for my liking. This, however, is delicious, delicate. Outside, a friend of Rupert’s is elbows-deep in a vat of apples; washing apples, cutting apples, dunking apples. Everywhere I look there are apples. This is just the start.

We drive out to a local orchard whose owners invite Rupert to pick some of their fruit. The laden trees far surpass the residents’ needs. About two-thirds of Britain’s orchards have disappeared since 1960. Devon, for example, has lost 90% of its orchard since the Second World War. Orchards have been ousted by roads and housing, grubbed up and replanted with cereals or simply faded through neglect. This makes it all the more important everywhere, including Oxford, to make sure our fruit is used and talked about.

Tiddly Pommes

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