Eplaétandi neytandi frá Íslandi

Ég hef tekið eftir því að rauð epli sem maður kaupir í Krónunni eru einhvern veginn aðeins of djúsí. Svo fannst mér líka skrýtið að inni í þeim séu svona rauðir þræðir ekki ósvipaðir hýðinu. Þetta fannst mér forvitnilegt og ákvað því að senda þeim línu hjá Superfreshgrowers í Bandaríkjunum. Eftirfarandi er erindi mitt og svarbréf þeirra.

Greetings,
I am a consumer in Iceland, and have seen your trademark on some apples that I buy in a local grocery store here. I am wondering if you could send me any further information (if you have it) on your methods of growing the apples. The ones I buy are what you call “Conventional” in your information sheet about “Red Delicious” apples, on your website. Since they are not organically grown (which is quite ok with me, I see you also produce organically grown products) I am wondering how they are grown, what chemicals are used and so on… They seem to have more juice in them and red(ish) fibres similar to the skin inside of them. Quite tasty!

Anyway, I would be most grateful if you have any information that you can send me via e-mail, although I am just one apple-eating consumer!

Respectfully,

Hér kemur svo svarbréfið:

Thank you so much for writing to us and letting us know we have delivered a good tasting piece of fruit from our orchards to your table. That is the purpose of our existence.

In regards to our growing methods; as often as possible we use organic growing methods in all of our production. We consider ourselves to be good stewards of the environment we live and work in, but return on investment is important as well. So when it makes sense, we use organic methods in all our orchards because they are more effective for the cost. That being said, we do still use chemicals in our conventional growing. The thing to know is that we apply them as sparingly as possible (they are very expensive) very early in the season before the pests are abundant and never closer than 30 days to harvest. This gives sun and irrigation water the chance to break these chemicals down to harmless compounds and wash them off the fruit. We then wash each apple prior to packaging it, assuring that none of those chemicals stays on the apples.

In regards to our apples being super-juicy and those little red fibers; most of that is due to our careful attention to detail regarding growing and harvesting at the right time. We have also worked very hard on perfecting our storage techniques to extend the life of the apple after harvest. The red fibers are because of the strain of Red Delicious (there are about 15 different strains of Red Delicious). 

One thing to keep in mind; even if the apples were to retain some of the chemicals we use, their health benefits far outweigh the risks posed by any residues. I have 5 healthy children that eat lots of my conventional apples. I wouldn’t feed them these apples if there was any real chance of harming them.

Thank you for eating our apples. Here’s to your good health!