OUT OF THE ORCHARD
Celebrate autumn’s bounty of apples and pears with our seasonal makes and bakes
Great with coffee after a meal or for decorating cakes. Put 1kg peeled, cored and halved pears in a stainless-steel pan. Add 600ml water; simmer for 15 minutes until tender. Remove with a slotted spoon; put on a wire rack over a tray to catch drips. Pour the liquid into a measuring jug. Weigh out 350g white granulated sugar for every 600ml liquid. Put both in pan and dissolve over low heat. Bring to boil. Put pears in a bowl and pour over syrup. Lay a circle of baking parchment on top and put a plate on this to keep fruit submerged for 24 hours. Remove pears to a wire rack over a tray. Measure syrup: for every 600ml, weigh out 125g sugar. Dissolve and boil, as before. Return pears to bowl and pour over syrup. Stand for 24 hours. Repeat daily for five more days using 125g sugar for every 600ml liquid. On day 8, weigh 175g sugar for every 600ml syrup. Boil and stand as before for two days. Repeat with another 175g sugar, then leave in syrup for four days. Remove pears and put on a wire rack over a tray. Leave to stand in a cool place for 2-3 days until fruit stops feeling sticky. Pack between waxed paper in a tin – they will keep for six months.
NAME DROPPING
Gather fruits with stalks intact to create an autumnal display incorporating leaves, dried flowers and seed heads to run along the centre of a table. Place a piece of fruit opposite each chair with a brown paper name tag put in front.
BIRD FEEDERS
Remove the top of an apple and then scoop out the centre to leave a shell thick enough to hold its shape. Make two holes to tie on twine. Mix together lard (at room temperature), seeds (pumpkin, sunflower) and peanuts, and pack inside*.
DRIED APPLE RINGS Preserve your apple harvest with this tasty snack or string together to make a garland.
Heat oven to its lowest setting. Dissolve 1 tbsp citric acid (from home-brewing websites) in 1.2 litres cold water. Alternatively, make up a solution of one-part lemon juice to four-parts water (using the former will preserve the apples for longer). Core firm, unblemished apples (peeled or unpeeled); cut into 5mm rings. Add slices in batches, ensuring they’re submerged and leave to sit for 5 minutes; remove with a slotted spoon. Arrange on racks and put in the oven, leaving the door ajar. At 80°C, they’ll be ready (chewy rather than crisp) within two hours.
APPLE BOBBIN
These long-lasting decorations are made by carefully wrapping string around a papier-mâché apple covered in glue. A piece of twig makes the stalk. You can papier-mâché an apple using several layers of newspaper and watered-down PVA glue. You’ll need to cut this in half once it’s dry to remove the apple from inside and then tape the papier-mâché shell back together. Alternatively, you may be able to find pre-made ones in papier-mâché, cardboard or polystyrene. Try Hobbycraft (hobbycraft.co.uk), Amazon (amazon.co.uk), The Little Crafty Bugs Company (littlecraftybugs.co.uk) or your local craft shop.
FRUITY PRINTS
Remember doing potato prints from your schooldays? You can try a novel twist on this with shapely apples and pears. Halve the fruit, dabbing it on kitchen paper to remove excess moisture before dipping it into paint and printing on giftwrap, paper bags, linens or directly onto a tabletop (use fabric paint to print onto material and chalk paint for furniture). If the stalk doesn’t print, simply paint it on with a paintbrush afterwards.
SEASONAL CENTREPIECE
Turn your fruit bowl into an eye-catching natural display with seasonal hedgerow finds woven in. Elevate the impact using a footed bowl or stand and coordinate the colours using berries, leaves, structured dried grasses and thistles in similar tones and shades.
PIP PIP HURRAY
Whole apples or dried slices can be worked into celebratory garlands, wreaths and natural arrangements with hops, evergreens such as ivy, and hydrangeas. Add fairy lights or candles* (ideally battery-powered ones if your arrangement is strung above a table, as seen here) for a warm glow in the evenings.