They ripen in late October and there is a good supply until December.
Discovery My favourite apple to eat raw. The pink from the skin tints the flesh and they have a knockout scent. Use in salads with toasted pumpkin seeds and fruity cheeses like Cheddar, or cook them with blackberries. They ripen on the tree in July/August and must be eaten quickly.
Worcester Pearmain This is the classic bright-red striped English eating apple, available in winter (but rarely after Christmas). The juice is sharp and fragrant. The colour fades when cooked, so Worcesters are better eaten raw. Use them in salads, with walnuts and blue cheese.
Unfamiliar native apples
Blenheim Orange These eating apples are often mentioned in old cookery books as excellent cooking apples, too. They cook down to a drier, more textured purée than regular cooking apples and are thought to be ideal for charlottes (a fruit pudding baked in a straight-sided dish lined with buttered bread, then turned out to serve).
Newton Wonder A sweet cooking apple that ripens in late December and is available through January. Remove the core, stuff the cavity with dried figs and treacle, then bake in a low oven and eat with good vanilla ice cream.
Laxton’s Fortune An early eating apple with Pippin ancestors, this ripens in September and should be eaten quickly, raw.
Tydeman’s Late Orange A dry-skinned Russet with plenty of aromatic juice, this eating apple ripens in January. Core it, stuff the cavity with raisins, wrap in shortcrust pastry, then brush with egg and bake. Eat with custard or sweetened cream cheese.
Scarlet Pimpernel An adorable small, fragrant apple that ripens in August. Fry them in a pan, sprinkle with brown sugar and serve with barbecued pork chops. Or eat raw, with cobnuts.
Ashmead’s Kernel An eating apple that doubles as a cider apple, with yellow, firm-textured flesh that keeps well. Good for making Apple Soup, or peel, core and braise with duck and haricot beans for a sweet, winter dish.
Crab apple The parent species of every apple, crab apples are always sour, very fragrant and have a nice habit of turning rusty pink when cooked. The best possible use for them is to make a syrup or jelly. Put the quartered apples in a pan with some water and simmer until soft. Suspend a muslin jelly bag over a chair, place a bowl beneath and tip the cooked apples into the bag. Do not force it; let the juice drip through naturally. Measure the juice, add 500g/1lb 2oz granulated sugar for every 600ml/1 pint liquid, boil for about 15 minutes then put into jars. It will set into a delicate pink jelly.
Breakfast apple There isn’t any such species but I use this as a catch-all word for apples I cannot identify. I peel and core them and then cook them to a soft purée. This is my regular breakfast, which I eat with honey, yoghurt and linseed.
This is a buttery, sweet and sour soup that makes an ideal everyday lunch reheated from the fridge. It can be made with any apple but it is better if they are slightly unripe or sour. Its flavour will change depending on the apple variety, and it is a good way to use up those wrinkly apples that have been sitting in the fruit bowl for too long. I recommend using a food processor to chop the fruit and vegetables. You don’t have to use homemade chicken stock – water or even apple juice is fine. If you use water, you will probably need to add more salt.
For a bigger meal, put this soup on the table with bread and cheese, or ham or potted meat with toast.
Serves 4
85g/3oz unsalted butter, plus extra to serve
1 large or 2 small white onions, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
12 apples, peeled, cored and chopped small
2 celery sticks with their leaves. chopped
leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme
5 allspice seeds, ground in a mortar and pestle (or ½ teaspoon ready-ground allspice)
1.2 litres/2 pints chicken stock, pressed apple juice or water
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Melt the butter in a large pan and add the onion, garlic, apples, celery, thyme leaves and allspice. Cook over a low heat until the onion and apples soften. Add the stock, bring to the boil and cook until the apples are quite tender. This should take about 15 minutes – don’t overcook it or the fresh flavours will be lost. Add black pepper, then taste and add salt if necessary. Serve with a knob of creamy unsalted butter melting in each bowlful.
| Kitchen note | |
| To make the soup richer still, stir in a splash of apple brandy or strong cider and put a spoonful of double cream into each bowlful when serving. For a different kind of soup, fry small pieces of smoked bacon or black pudding and add to each bowl. Adding a teaspoonful of toasted medium oatmeal will give this soup more muscle still. |
Apple, Red Cabbage and Watercress Salad
I want to eat smaller, mayonnaise-bound salads instead of large bowls of rocket and mizuna dressed with olive oil and smothered in cheese. I like those spiky salad leaves but, after 10 years of enthusiasm, it is nice to turn instead to neat forkfuls of vegetables, herbs, nuts, fruits, perhaps cured meat or leftover chicken, clinging together with the help of an oil—egg emulsion like mayonnaise. Even a small amount fills and fuels you through an afternoon. These salads keep for 2 or 3 days in the fridge, so are a useful everyday graze. Leaves need not be left out. In the following recipe, they are part of the dressing.
This apple-based salad is lovely eaten alone but good, too, with hot boiled gammon, cold ham or cured sausage.
Serves 4
6 apples (the red skins of Worcesters are effective with the cabbage)
a squeeze of lemon juice
¼ red cabbage
2 tablespoons walnut halves
a little oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the dressing:
2 egg yolks
1 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 bunches of watercress, chopped
300ml/½ pint light olive oil, sunflower oil or groundnut oil
1–2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, to taste
1 tablespoon cornichons (baby gherkins), drained and finely chopped
First make the dressing: put the egg yolks and mustard into a bowl and mix well with a small whisk. Add the chopped watercress, then beat in the oil, a few drops at a time to begin with, then adding it a little faster once a third of it has been incorporated. If you add the oil too quickly it may curdle. Mix in the vinegar with the cornichons and set to one side.
Quarter the apples, remove the cores and slice them thinly, leaving the skins on. Dress with a little lemon juice to stop discoloration. Shred the cabbage as finely as possible, keeping the crunchy stalk. Put both the apple and cabbage into a bowl, then pour over enough of the dressing to give a good covering (set the rest aside; it will store well in a jar in the fridge).
Mix the salad gently so the apple slices do not break. Taste a little