Fruit

The bitter Seville orange is the most traditional and arguably the finest marmalade fruit of all. Only available for a few short weeks starting in mid-January, this knobbly, often misshapen orange has a unique aromatic quality and is very rich in pectin. However, you can use almost any citrus fruit to make good marmalade–consider sweet oranges, blood oranges, grapefruit, limes, clementines, kumquats, or a combination of two or three (see my suggested variations ). There are two basic ways of making marmalade. My first choice is the sliced fruit method, which involves cutting the raw peel into shreds before cooking. I find this technique produces a brighter, clearer result. However, the whole fruit method, in which the fruit is boiled whole before being cut up, is easier and less time-consuming. It tends to create a darker, less delicate preserve–but that, of course, might be exactly what you want. I’ve given you both methods here.

Season: September to October. The raw flesh of the lumpy yellow quince is dry and disagreeably sour. However, once cooked, it becomes pink and highly perfumed. Lightly sweetened and combined with good fluffy cooking apples, such as Granny Smiths, it makes a delightful accompaniment for roast pork or duck. I also love this aromatic fruity sauce on a home-baked rice pudding.

Season: July to late October. This recipe comes from Liz Neville, a virtuoso preserves maker with whom I run the River Cottage Preserved courses. You can make it with any raspberry, but we particularly like to use the big autumn berries. Bottle a few and you can extend your raspberry eating well into the dark winter months. In an ideal world, the fruit for this preserve would be packed into the jars as you pick it from the canes. That may not be possible–but do make sure the fruit is in tip-top condition and handled as little as possible.

Season: winter. It may seem somewhat unnecessary to preserve dried fruit, but I love having a few jars of this compote on the shelf. The once-shriveled fruits become plump and luscious and are quite delicious served alone for breakfast or with yogurt or crème fraîche as a dessert. I like to make this in early November, when newly dried prunes, figs, and apricots are available. Keep on the lookout for small, dried wild figs, which will plump up perfectly to their original shapely selves. The glistening black prunes from the Agen area in southern France are also key players–I prefer to use these un pitted because they infuse the compote with an almondlike essence. A simplified version of the oven method is used–everything is cooked and hot to start with, so the jars don’t need to be heated for an extended time in the oven.

Season: August to September. The fig is a member of the mulberry family and is generally best suited to warmer climates. A contented, well-positioned homegrown tree can crop well, usually in August and September. There are countless varieties, ranging in color from purply black to yellowy green–any can be used for this recipe. Just make sure, when picking or buying, that your figs are ripe, as they do not ripen after picking. This recipe uses a simplified version of the oven method. Everything is cooked and hot to start with, so it’s not necessary to heat the jars for an extended time in the oven. A few jars of these honey-soaked fruits, stored away for the winter months, will be a blissful reminder that the hot days of summer were not just a fig-ment of your imagination. .

Season: August to early October. The Brogdale Trust in Kent is home to the National Fruit Collection–a bit like a Noah’s Ark for the fruits of the earth. Among their many living specimens, they grow over 300 different cultivars of Prunus domestica, the European plum–also known as dessert plums. These fruits crop from high summer right through into October, giving us plenty to eat fresh, and loads to preserve for later in the year. In the United States, European plums can be found at farmers’ markets, growing in backyards, or at some supermarkets. Or you can preserve peach, nectarine, or apricot halves in the same way.

Season: Late August to October. It always amazes me just how much fruit a gnarled old pear tree can bear in a good season. However, it’s still a little tricky to catch pears at their point of perfect ripeness–somewhere between bullet hard and soft and woolly. Never mind, should you find yourself with a boxful of underripe specimens, this recipe turns them into a preserve “pear excellence.” These pears are particularly delicious served with thick vanilla custard or used as a base for a winter fruit salad. Alternatively, try serving them with terrines and pâtés, or mix them with chicory leaves drizzled with a honey mustard dressing and crumbled blue cheese.

Season: late July to September. This recipe, applying the oven method, can be used for preserving the many members of the Vaccinium family, which include the cultivated blueberry as well as the wild huckleberry. The delicate, lemony nutmeg note of fresh bay complements their gentle flavor beautifully. Serve these fragrant berries for a breakfast treat with thick vanilla yogurt.

Season: January to February. The arrival of the early, forced rhubarb in January deserves a salutation of the greatest magnitude, and I can never wait to savor its fresh, earthy energy. The blushing stalks, with their tart but delicate flavor, are strictly seasonal, so be sure you don’t miss the chance to preserve a jar or two to enjoy later in the year.

Season: July to August. Historically, sweetened vinegars were valued for their medicinal qualities and were typically used to relieve coughs and treat fevers and colds. During the nineteenth century, raspberry vinegar in particular was recommended as a refreshing tonic to overcome weariness. But fruit vinegars have a multitude of culinary uses too, and I certainly wouldn’t want to be without a bottle or two in the kitchen. Use raspberry vinegar on salads–either neat or blended with olive oil. I also love it trickled over goat’s cheese, crepes, and even ice cream. You’ll also find that a spoonful adds a lovely piquancy to savory sauces. For a revitalizing summer drink, mix a couple of tablespoonfuls of raspberry vinegar with soda or tonic water and add ice. The fruit for a vinegar needs to be gathered on a dry day. If the fruit is wet, it will dilute the vinegar and adversely affect its keeping quality.

Season: November to March. A cool glass of homemade lemonade knocks the commercially produced alternative into oblivion. Once tasted, this will become a favorite thirst quencher. Serve this lemon syrup diluted with cold water as a cool summertime refresher, or mix with tonic water and a splash of Angostura bitters for a nonalcoholic cocktail. You can also use oranges as well as lemons.

Season: Autumn to winter. The Italians use fiery-hot mustard oil to add a bit of passion to their classic fruit preserve mostardo di cremona. However, mustard oil is pretty well impossible to purchase in this country, so I have used mustard seeds and powder to pep up the dried figs in my own interpretation of the dish. Serve it with hot or cold meat, with oily fish dishes, or with cheese in sandwiches.

Season: Pretty much all year round. I’d like to introduce you to a group of cordials with a name inspired by a British fruit juice beverage called Ribena. These can be prepared throughout the year and are an excellent way of using fruit that’s too ripe for jam making. I’ve made rhubeena with rhubarb, berrybeena with summer berries, plumbeena with plums–and currants work very well too. Use these fruits alone to make single-variety ’beenas or, for a lighter and more economical cordial, use 50 percent cooking apples. Because the fruit pulp will be strained, you needn’t be too fastidious with its preparation. Rhubarb should be cut into chunks. Strawberries should be hulled. Plums are best halved, but it’s not necessary to remove the pits. Apples should be stemmed and coarsely chopped, but there’s no need to peel or core them.

Season: November to March. Preserved lemons have a strong association with Middle Eastern and North African cuisines, and their unique zesty, salty yet mellow flavor permeates many of the traditional meat and couscous dishes of those regions. Strips of preserved lemon can also be added to salads, soups, and dressings, or mixed with olives and other appetizers. They are exceptionally easy to prepare, and I like to make them around the turn of the year when the new season’s lemons from Spain and Italy are in the shops.

Season: Late August to September. Dark-skinned with a bluish bloom, small oval damson plums are very tart and well flavored, which makes them wonderful for preserving. This is a straightforward recipe that keeps the fruit whole and tender. I love warming cinnamon and allspice in the mix, but you can use any spices you fancy, or even a good tablespoonful of ready-made pickling spice (see p. 89). These sweet spiced damsons are a lovely addition to any buffet table and splendid with cold poultry.

Season: August to December. I love pickled fruits and always look forward to opening a jar to serve with cold poultry and ham. Small, hard pears are ideal for use in this recipe, and it’s a very good way to deal with a barrel-load of them. If you stick with the basic quantities of sugar and vinegar, this recipe can easily be adapted for use with other fruits and different spices (see the variations below).

Season: May to July. Made with the reddish green stalks of main-crop or field rhubarb, this relish is quick and easy, involving much less cooking than a chutney would require. It is light, very fruity, and not too sweet. Delicious with curries, oily fish, chicken, and cheese and in sandwiches, it’s a versatile addition to the larder. Rhubarb, by the way, is very easy to prepare, but do take care to always remove the leaves, as they are poisonous.

Season: September to November. Autumn is the season for apples. For centuries, the apple crop has been important, and the apple tree cherished and celebrated for its fruit. Wassailing is an English West Country tradition when, on Twelfth Night of old (January 17), country folk toast and drink to the health of the largest and most prolific apple tree in the orchard for a healthy, fruitful crop the coming season. The sharp and bittersweet qualities of cider give this old-fashioned apple butter a special flavor. It’s a sensational fruity spread to daub over hot buttered toast or crumpets.

Season: Late September to October. A fruit cheese is simply a solid, sliceable preserve – and the princely quince, with its exquisite scent and delicately grainy texture, makes the most majestic one of all. It can be potted in small molds to turn out, slice, and eat with cheese. Alternatively, you can pour it into shallow trays to set, then cut it into cubes, coat with sugar, and serve as a sweetmeat. A little coarsely chopped quince cheese adds a delicious fruity note to lamb stews or tagines – or try combining it with chopped apple for a pie or crumble.

Season: September to October. The term mincemeat originated in the fifteenth century, when chopped meat was preserved with a combination of dried fruit, sugar, and aromatic spices. During the seventeenth century, suet replaced the meat and has been used ever since. This recipe is a departure on several fronts: it uses fresh fruit as well as dried, and it contains no suet. In fact, it contains very little fat (only the oil in the walnuts). The result is light and fruity, but with all the rich, warm spiciness of a traditional mincemeat. If you can’t find russet apples, any good eating apple can be used.