Interest in traditional apple varieties is on the increase, and has been one of the causes championed with considerable success by the farmers' markets movement. Some of the supermarkets have earned themselves a rare plus point by getting in on the act, too.

I always make a point of tasting any apple variety I have never encountered before. At the Bridport farmers' market I discovered for the first time the delights of the Lord Lambourne - a lovely crisp apple with a tart lemon tang and a hint of rosewater. People who really like apples tend to be quite fussy about the apples they like. Galas and Golden Delicious, sweet but bland, do nothing for me, whereas the first, hard, sharp, home-grown Cox's Orange Pippins, with their unmistakable honeyed citrus flavour note, are unbeatable. The later Cox's are often too sweet and mealy, and the recent mass imports from New Zealand, which keep us in Cox's through our early summer months and have a yellow skin and suspiciously even tiger streaking of red, don't seem like real Cox's at all.

The distinction between cookers and eaters can be a misleading one. From the cook's point of view, the more useful distinction is between apples that keep their shape when cooked, and those that dissolve into a purée. The best known of the latter is the good old Bramley, which is ideal for crumbles and pies. But if you want to make a classic French-style apple tart, with layers of thinly sliced apples overlapping in concentric circles, early-season Cox's, Reinettes or even Russets are the best bet.

Most varieties of apple travel and store extremely well. In some cases, notably Fiesta, Jonagold and Granny Smith, the flavour is actually improved by storage. However, even the best storing apples, once exposed to warm air in the greengrocer's or the house, will gradually begin to deteriorate. If the skin moves to form a wrinkle when pushed sideways with your thumb, it is starting to lose its crispness and, for me at least, is devoid of interest. The pigs, however, love them.