Fall for fruit
Cherries
I remember spending a sunny afternoon climbing rickety ladders in an old cherry orchard in Kent, picking lots of traditional varieties. Later, we lit a campfire and cooked up delicious treats, including cherry and dark chocolate drop scones and a simple fool with ripe cherries, whipped cream, crushed amaretti biscuits and flaked toasted almonds. We also cooked cherries in butter and honey and served them with vanilla ice cream.
Blackcurrants & redcurrants
Some varieties crop right through into August, but earlier harvests can be frozen in batches, so you can enjoy these little bombs of flavour right into winter. I love to make a sweet cordial by simmering blackcurrants with fresh thyme and honey. Redcurrants are great in salads – try them with grated carrots, lemon and a few drops of rose water. I also make a very simple unbaked cheesecake with a buttery biscuit base topped with a mix of whipped cream, soft cheese, vanilla and lemon zest, then cooked blackcurrants.
Gooseberries
One of my all-time favourite soft fruits. I like them firm and acidic when young, as well as plump and ripe, when they burst between your fingers as you pick them. They’re surprisingly versatile. Try them raw, sliced into salads with crunchy apple, shaved fennel bulb and mint. They make great salsa too. If I’m in the mood to cook them, I add handfuls to saffron cakes, lemony crumbles and sweet pastry pies. I also simmer them into sharp sauces for baked mackerel, and add them to my ketchups and chutneys.
Blueberries
At first glance these berries look a bit dull, with their greyish matt skin. But pop them in a pan with some honey and lemon juice and something magical happens. A little heat brings out their vivid colour – so deeply inky you could dip a quill in it and pen a love letter. They’re also wonderful with lavender – just simmer them with a little sugar and a couple of lavender flowerheads and allow to cool. If you can’t get lavender, use fresh thyme or, better still, lemon thyme.
Raspberries
Autumn berries seem to have a deeper flavour than earlier crops. Maybe long sunny days give them more intensity. Eat them with whipped cream and crushed meringue or trickled with a syrup made from rose geranium leaves. For an amazing crumble, cook them gently with rhubarb, then bake with an oaty, nutty topping. Granita is easy to make and so refreshing – simmer the berries with lots of sugar and lemon juice, pass through a sieve then freeze. Every hour, scratch up with a fork until frozen.
Gill Meller is a chef, food writer, cookery teacher and keen gardener. Gill has been part of the River Cottage team for over 15 years and has written several award-winning cookbooks. His latest, Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower, is available now. @gill.meller,