Monty's Surprise: Whanganui grown apple variety is a gift that keeps on giving

Murray Jones and Melinda Hatherly transfer ownership of their Monty's Surprise apple brew to Sam O'Sullivan and Dave Hursthouse. Photo / Supplied

Visitors to the River Traders Market in Whanganui will notice new faces at the stall selling a favourite local beverage this Saturday.

Melinda Hatherly and Murray Jones have been producing and selling their Nicely Spicy mulled apple drink made from Monty's Surprise apples grown at their TreeLife NZ orchard for a few years - and they have now gifted the business to the Woven Rivers Trust.

"It's been a lot of fun and hard work over the past 15 years or so developing our TreeLife NZ heritage apple nursery and orchard and then producing our much-loved Monty's Surprise Nicely Spicy mull," said Hatherly.

"We've really appreciated the fantastic community support we've received for our Monty's Surprise products at the River Traders Market, and elsewhere."

Hatherly said the idea to gift the apple products business to the Woven Rivers Trust grew out of alignment with their ethics and aims, and a strong desire to support the social enterprise and their success in bringing a new kind of socio-ecological education to Whanganui.

Woven Rivers is a charitable trust based at Piwakawaka Farm in Papaiti Rd and it aims to establish the Socio-Ecological Learning Environment in Whanganui.

Clinical psychologist Sam O'Sullivan is one of seven kaitiaki/advisers on the trust.

"This gift from Melinda and Murray is incredibly generous and we are honoured to accept it. We have rebranded the name of the juice to 'The Mull' and we will be selling it at the River Traders Market from this Saturday," he said.

"The Mull apple juice is part of our social enterprise Piwakawaka Farm, which is supporting the Socio-Ecological Learning Environment. The farm is creating products to fund scholarships for the Learning Environment courses and the farm is also where the Learning Environment infrastructure will be established, so the two are very connected."

It has been 20 years since Whanganui's Mark Christensen, a member of NZ Tree Crops Association, discovered an old, neglected apple tree in Manawatu and marvelled at its large, tasty, disease-resistant fruit.

Monty's Surprise is now known to be full of antioxidants that inhibit cancer cell growth.

Studies have linked the consumption of apples with reduced risk of some cancers, cardiovascular diseases, asthma and diabetes and Monty's Surprise is rated as being a top performer.

Monty's Surprise apples grown by Christensen are also used in Tres Hombres Hot Stuff sauces made in Whanganui by Frank Bristol, Alex Loggie and Paul Anderson, which are also sold at the Whanganui River Traders Market.