Apples
It’s a tough sell convincing anyone that apples are a special British
food, a heritage fruit to be treasured, a seasonal joy to be enjoyed with a
sense of time and place. There’s so much baggage goes with apples, isn’t
there? All that stuff about keeping doctors and dentists happy means that for
many people the apple has become a penance to be offered-up to the health gods
after too many McFlurrys.
And of course part of the reason that this has come to pass is that apples
have become another victim of the lowest-common-denominator solutions offered
to us by the agri-industrial global food corporations. So much fruit, so little
satisfying taste or texture. Those green apples for sale in railway stations
for example. Perfect-looking fruit, of course, but with a nerve-chilling icy
hard texture and just a little watery juice. Ugh! These are varieties often
grown thousands of miles away, developed entirely for how long they stay looking
good, regardless of the effect on taste, smell or texture.
But, like many other foods, the real thing is out there to be found, especially
at this time of the year. With apples there is a fabulous variety of smells,
tastes and textures to be explored in the huge range of varieties. Only 30
varieties are grown commercially, but farm shops and farmers markets are good
places to try for others. They often have fabulous locally evocative names,
like Worcester Pearmain, Colloggett Pippin and Norfolk Beefing. Many gardens
and farms have ancient apple trees and often they won’t have a clue what
the variety is. No matter – get a load and try them out. Try Brogdale’s
online resource if you want to identify a mystery apple.
Once you’ve tracked down some lovely apples, what next? If you’ve
got lots get the juicer out and make some juice. I think this is a really good
way of comparing the flavours given by different varieties. Obviously you also
have to eat some raw. It’s easy to take commonplace foods for granted,
but getting hold of some lovely fresh seasonal apples is a great way to get
back in touch with our experience of simple fresh food. Eat some apples, but
linger over them – what does each smell and taste of, what makes one
more satisfying than another?
So, cooking next. The very mealy apples like the Bramley need to be used in
recipes where their tendency to collapse to mush is a desired quality. Baked
Bramley's, cored and filled with butter, brown sugar, dried fruit and spice
and served with custard are lovely.
Serious apple desserts vary from the fine and delicate to the heart-stopping.
At the most simple end of the spectrum a really quick light tart can be made
simply by rolling out some puff pastry quite thin (Dorset Pastry make a good
all-butter organic one) and laying overlapping slices of sweet dessert apple
on top. Sprinkle with sugar, dot with butter and bake. Hot from the oven with
a dollop of, say, cinnamon ice cream, this is better than it has any right
to be for the effort involved.
Finer tarts abound in the classical repertoire. I like to make a tart which
combines both apple puree and crunchy slices. The puree I leave quite coarse,
made by cooking apple chunks with vanilla sugar and a little water until most
is mush but some lumps remain. Leave this to cool and make a pâté sucrée,
or whatever is your favourite sweet rich pastry. Line a tart tin with the pastry
and add the chilled puree. On top artfully arrange slices of peeled cored apple
and sprinkle with sugar to taste. Bake 30-40 minutes and serve hot with pouring
cream.
The British tradition too has some classic apple puddings. The wonderfully-named
Apple Hat is a rib-sticker demanding thick custard and a long lie down – Delia’s
recipe link below.
Finally, there are some great apple products out there to try. My favourite
is Somerset Cider Brandy. Using local apples they make cider – try the
one made from Kingston Black apples – but concentrate on distilling and
maturing cider brandy. It’s available in various forms, from an eau-de-vie
to the just released 15-year old. The 10-year old is pretty readily available
and represents fantastic value for money compared to Calvados of similar quality.
If you happen to down in Somerset I recommend a visit – it’s the
closest I’ve been in the UK to visiting anywhere with an atmosphere like
an artisan French winery – eccentric, low-tech, Heath Robinson and wonderful!
Brogdale: http://www.brogdale.org/nfc_plants1.php?plantid=7
Dorset Pastry: http://www.dorsetpastry.com/
Delia’s Apple Hat: http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/old-english-apple-hat,1667,RC.html
Somerset Cider Brandy: http://www.ciderbrandy.co.uk/
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