Today

The eating Coxes and the cooking Bramleys might be under threat from cheap French imports, but the humble English cider apple is in great demand.

The English have rediscovered cider, the oldest of all our drinks, and the cider makers have reinvented the drink to appeal to today's young, discerning drinker to whom drinking is almost a fashion accessory.

Cider has certainly been the trend-setter of drinks fashion in the nineties. Innovative new styles and packaging and exciting new television advertising has pushed it to the top of the drinks charts.

Gone is the rustic, yokel image of old. Now you will see cider in all the smart bars and night clubs, and the bottles are so trendy they do not even use glasses. Industry figures show that UK cider sales are outperforming that of any other drinks category, with sales up by more than 20 per cent on last year.

Consequently, the bitter tasting cider apple...no good for eating or cooking...is now in big demand and a profitable crop for farmers in the Herefordshire region and down in the Westcountry where cider apples grow best. The traditional cider apple, known as a bitter-sweet, is high in tannin and low in acidity, giving it its unique "bite" or astringency.

The cider apples have quirky names, like Slack me Girdle, Sheeps Nose, or Handsome Maud. Once there were over 350 different varieties. Nowadays a dozen or so are grown, such as Dabinett, Mitchelin, Redstreak or Chisel Jersey, the characteristic of each adding to the flavour of the cider fermented from their juice.

Britain's leading cider maker, Bulmers of Hereford, has challenged local farmers and those down in Devon where it has an off-shoot, Inch's Cider, to grow enough apples to meet demand into the 21st century. The firm already presses over 60,000 tonnes each season.

The company...of Strongbow, Woodpecker and Scrumpy Jack fame...is growing 200,000 young trees a year in its nursery, that's enough for 600 acres of new orchards, and offering farmers 30 year supply contracts. It plans 3,500 acres to add to the existing 7,000 acres in the region, welcome news for hard pressed local farmers.

Tim Epps, Bulmers pomologist, or apple expert, said: "We have farmers in Herefordshire planting new orchards, but in Devonshire, where the orchards have been neglected it is much harder to persuade them to start replanting. It's a profitable crop once the orchard is at full yield.

"Bulmers is committed to using locally grown cider fruit to make its brands and maintaining a centuries old tradition. We can honestly say that the future of the English cider apple is safe with us."

Bulmers has just launched a campaign to persuade restauranteurs to put cider on their wine lists, claiming its natural apple-y taste is a perfect accompaniment to food, especially hot spicy curries.