Apple juice, made with unloved fruit launches in west Essex.

One of our objectives at Thompson's is to reduce food waste. We press and bottle all the apples and pears we grow on our farm that are too big, too small or too ugly to be sold, and turn it into delicious tasting juice.

Our apple and pear juice was previously sold under the name of Tendring Fruit, and was available in a handful of farm shops and independent retailers in East Essex. We have now relaunched it under a new name "Cotchel", which is market traders slang for the bits 'n' bobs left over at the end of the week. Barrow boys would 'Cotchel up for the weekend' - making up boxes of leftovers for family and friends. Needless to say, Cotchel always tastes good!

Earlier this year we were at the Coggeshall Food Festival selling apple juice and warm mulled apple and pear juice from our horse box trailer, when we met Stewart Linehan, Stock & Merchandising Manager at the Chelmsford Star Cooperative.

We got chatting to Stewart about our aim to, not only reduce food waste, but also to produce great tasting juice with bold and bright bottle design that would look good on any retailer's shelves or on the bar in a pub or restaurant.

We're delighted to say that Stewart liked what he saw and on Friday 1 December, 2017, Cotchel launches in 23 Chelmsford Star Cooperatives, in and around Chelmsford.  It is exciting recognition of our efforts to create a great tasting fruit juice using fruit we can’t sell and reach new customers across the county.

For more information about Cotchel visit our separate website  - cotchel.uk >