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Join our team of fruit harvesters to help bring the harvest in.
Join our team of fruit harvesters to help bring the harvest in.
Help us to get Luton's surplus fruit harvest to good use. Luton Orchards would love to start a fruit picker scheme like exists in London. I'm still working out the details of the programme, but if you live in Luton and would like to get involved, contact us.
Who is behind the Apple Amnesty and why do we do this?
Who is behind the Apple Amnesty and why do we do this?
The Luton Orchards Apple Amnesty is a not-for-profit initiative run by the people behind Edible High Town and Luton Orchards, in collaboration with Penrose Roots2Recovery.
We want to:
stop surplus fruit going to waste (we'll still leave enough for the birds)
get people excited about locally grown fruit and heritage apple varieties
bring deliciously fresh local apple juice to everyone in Luton
support community gardening and orchards work in Luton
The profit on a bottle is small, estimated around 70p. We invest any surplus back into our community gardening and orchard work in Luton.
This year’s amnesty is kindly supported by the team at Food First Luton, who are helping us get the word out and sponsor demonstration pressing equipment and staff time for workshops.
History of the Apple Amnesty
History of the Apple Amnesty
It all began in 2022
It all began in 2022
We introduced our very first batch of Luton Orchards apple juice in 2022.
The juice is made from donated apples that have grown trees grown in private back gardens and community orchards across High Town and Round Green. In 2023, we extended the Apple Amnesty across and beyond Luton.
The apples were then professionally pressed and bottled, with just a little vitamin C added to stop the juice from oxidising during bottling. Made this way, it'll last up to 18 months (if you can wait that long)
2023 season
2023 season
Our 2023 batches flew off the shelves. We had 250kg of fruit donated, which made 227 bottles of apples. The juice was sold at the High Town Christmas Fair, Luton Hoo Walled Garden and directly.
2024 season
2024 season
In 2024, we had 350kg donated which made 300 bottles of juice.
You can read more about the Apple Amnesty in this article online.
We've been supported by Love Luton in 2023, and Food First in 2024 and 2025.
2025 season
2025 season
The 2025 Apple Amnesty yielded 642 bottles of finest apple juice in 5 batches between August and October.
Each bottled batch reflects the different apple varieties we received at the time, starting with early Discovery, James Grieve and Pam’s Delight, through to Bramley’s Seedling, Laxton’s Superb, Spartan and many more.
Tree owners in and around Luton donated more than 700kg of fruit. On top of all the bottled juice, this was enough to provide us with 12 crates for hand-pressing on our Apple Day near your site.
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