Autumn is shuffling in, bringing us the best of the summer’s produce. September is the month for the first apples (see our article on the Discovery variety), Conference pears, plums, damson and cobnuts, plus much more besides ….
Fruit
Apples and plums are top of the menu. If you want English dessert apples, then Disovery is your best bet. Just make sure you eat them fast, as they are not keepers. Early Windsor are just arriving, too. Bramley are also now available.
Early batches of Conference pears are an option, but give them a week or so until they are at their best. Victoria (pictured below right) is the main variety of plum, but you will also find Jubilee and a few others. Greengages are also recommended.
Cobnuts have just arrived, but are still dear. Soft fruit is British and excellent. From further afield, melons of all kinds remain a good bet. The last of the English cherries are an option for a final flutter. Flat peaches and lovely round nectarines are at the end of their season.
Veg
Squashes of all shapes and sizes are bringing some colour. Corn on the cob is another star player. It’s a good time for kales and most other brassicas, including kohl rabi and purple sprouting. There are still English peas, broad beans, runners and bobby beans to be had.
Courgettes, marrows and courgette flowers are all available. Tomatoes of all kinds are in their prime. Salads are going strong.
Extras
Herbs are abundant and mostly British: excellent mint, parsley (curley and flat), coriander. Don’t forget the exotics, too – such as these tomatillos (bottom right), ideal for a proper Mexican salsa.
