Where Have All The Large Apples Gone ?

Xenon

Why are apples so small these days

Every supermarket i go into - apples whether they be standalone or in packs are always small in size.
The last decent good sized apples i bought where in Lidl years ago- lovely green & reds 

So anyone else feel the same or i'm i talking rubbish ?

And does anyone know where to buy good sized apples 

Brie

Going to catering I think.  Well we had a local food wholesaler go out of business recently and they asked our food bank to come and clear out their stock of fresh fruit and veg.  The beets were huge and the bramleys could be carved for jack o lanterns!  Well nearly.  Huge box of apples each a good 6 inches across.  

Also I think that tiddly ones are more "inviting" for parents to feed to kids and so that's what the supermarkets get in.  Might also do with the way they are grown. 

The more automated a fruit farm is the more likely apple trees are going to be small, and likely to be pruned into a fan shape so the apples can all get adequate sun to ripen evenly.  It also makes it easier (& therefore cheaper) to pick as well as spray.

fatbelly

I have two trees and for the first time ever this year they produced a multitude of small apples rather than a small number of large ones. Most went into my compost heap. 

I think if the same thing happens again i will remove some earlier. So it may be a quirk of the growing conditions this year.

gwynlas

Shrinkflation it might sound crazy being applied to fruit and veg but the supermarkets dictate size to growers and look at different ways of marketing to keep price point down, hence fun size as labelled generally for £1 or less

Rosa_Damascena

Lidl does medium sized apples in 2kg bags. They are not tiddlers but not huge either, just big enough to fill you up. It is always possible to eat 2 in succession if one doesn't do the job.

Xenon

Thanks for the replies - like everything these days it gets smaller while the price gets larger

pumpkin89

It does come down to price.  If you go to M&S or Waitrose you'll see a range of sizes, and I noticed Tesco Finest are quite large the other day.  For some fruit & veg small is regarded as attractive and carries a price premium (e.g. cherry tomatoes, baby sweetcorn) while for others large comes at a premium.

prowla

I like the Washington Red apples, but it's been years since I've seen one.

maman

I've found that white onions (in bags) in Aldi have been very small recently. Fortunately the loose ones in Sainsbury's are bigger and matched to Aldi price. 

DigSunPap

Im not sure what the reasoning is for the apparent shrinking of the apples. But, I have found the Lidl ones to be larger in size than Aldi as of late

njm123

Greengrocers might have better sizes if you have one local enough to use,    I was in one today when out running errands and they had several varieties at a very good size at about 2.40 per kilo.   Only variety that was smallish was the russetts but don't see them often in the supermarket and they were still a decent size for that variety.