Next time you go into any UK supermarket and pick up an eating apple think of Kent.

For the chances are the homegrown juicy green fruit grew and was picked in our fair county.

Forget Somerset, about two thirds of all eating apples grown in the UK are produced here in Kent.

In the next few weeks our delicious crop will be hitting the shelves - but buyers are being urged not to just pick the prettiest fruit.

Producers were seriously concerned last month that a lack of sunshine and warmth this year could have meant small fruit, or worse still, ugly apples.

Research carried out by the growers’ association English Apples Limited shows a third of us in Britain think our apples will taste better if they’re shiny and perfectly shaped.

Yet the fruit’s trade association, English Apples and Pears, thinks the last few weeks might just have made our Kentish fruit appetising enough for consumers.

Chief Executive Adrian Barlow said: “The weather this year does mean there’s a little bit more weather marking on the skin than we would normally have, but that is not affecting the taste in any way at all.”

Supermarkets take roughly 80 per cent of the eating apple crop but their exacting standards determine how much they’ll buy and at what price.

Forty per cent of supermarket shoppers are put off buying apples that are not perfectly round, according to English Apples Limited.

Too small or too ugly and the fruit may be difficult for the big stores to shift, making the apples less profitable for Kent growers.

The usually warm sunny summer, coupled with fairly cool winters, makes ideal growing conditions as it helps the fruit swell and the juice and flavours develop.

Between July and October is the key time for apple growers, when the fruit matures and is picked from orchards all over the county.

This early summer’s weather really wasn’t the best for the Kent crop but the last few weeks seem to have saved the day.

Mr Barlow said: “We’re a little bit above average in terms of volume but the apples will be a little smaller because of the lack of sunshine and warmth.”

Some of the problems with this year’s weather have had a positive effect though.

He adds: “The rain has given us bags of juice and the cold weather in the last few weeks will give a good red colour.”

Kent fruit should be hitting the shops over the next few weeks and even if it doesn’t quite look as pretty it should taste as good as always.