Go forth and be fruitful

“If you use a fork or anything like that the little blighters will be all over the place” he continued. Hedgerows, orchards and gardens are now dripping with wonderful fruit such as plums, apples, pears and elderberries to be cooked now or preserved for the cold months ahead.

Arthur, a lifelong gardener, now in his 80s and with a voice that reminds me of Alan Titchmarsh, told me how to make elderberry cordial. He recommended pouring a teaspoon or two of the deep, dark purple liquor over ice-cream or taking a little in hot water to sooth a thickly throat. He gave me a glass of cool, freshly made lemonade spiked with a few drops. The flavours were deep, spicy and fruity and made me think of all kinds of other uses for this rich purple, elderberry liquor.

Along the River Wharfe at Addingham, Derek Law has performed a labour of love transforming the Church Orchard into a rectory garden with a variety of heritage apples, plums, pears and soft fruit trees. The orchard belongs to the community and local people are welcome to help him pick the fruit and take it away to cook or preserve at home.

Derek gave me a trugful of beautiful red plums and a huge tray of assorted apples and the challenge of what to do with them. It got me wondering if plums and elderberries might make a good match for each other. I gave it a try and found they did. Baked plums with elderberries marries well.

Another triumph was making apple syrup from the juice of the apples I did not know what to do with.

Apple syrup is perfect for flavouring porridge, adding to drinks and just dribbling into yogurt for example.

This is wonderful time of the year to cook and experiment with the abundant free food that is everywhere at the moment. And anyone who is lucky enough to live in Yorkshire is also lucky enough to live not too far away from it.

Baked plums with elderberry honey

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

6 large plums, cut in half, stones removed

2 tbsp runny honey

Berries from 1-2 elderberry droops, washed

2-3 tbsp almond crackle*

Method

Preheat oven to 200C/Gas 6. Place the plums cut side up on a baking tray or bun tin. Place the honey in a small bowl. Remove the elderberries from their stalks and place in a metal sieve or tea strainer. Crush the berries with a metal spoon and allow the juice to drip into the honey. Stir the honey and elderberry juice together well and dribble over the tray of cut plums. Place the tray in the oven for 10 minutes until the plums are soft and their juice bubbles. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with crushed almond crackle* (see recipe below). Serve hot with vanilla ice cream or Greek yogurt.

Almond crackle

INGREDIENTS

80g almonds

150g caster sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 200C/Gas 6. Place the almonds on a baking sheet and roast in a hot oven for 5 to 8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove nuts from the oven and allow to cool.

Place three tablespoons of water and the caster sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and swirl together.

Gently heat the sugar and water until they reach a simmer – continue to swirl every now and then. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the solution begins to change to a golden colour.

At this point pour over the tray of cooled almonds and allow the sugar solution to set a little before placing the tray of almonds in the freezer for 10 minutes to harden. Remove almonds from the freezer when the sugar is solid and brittle. Crush the sugared almonds into shards and use to scatter over puddings, in crumbles or just to nibble.

Plum and elderberry crumble

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

300g plums

100g elderberries

3 star anise

50g caster sugar

Crumble topping

225g plain wholemeal flour

75g caster sugar

110g cold unsalted butter cut into 1cm dice

25g of crushed almond crackle from the above recipe or 25g hazelnuts or almonds, roughly chopped

method

Preheat oven to 200°C, Gas mark 6. Place the plums in a medium sized saucepan along with 100ml water, star anise and caster sugar. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes until the fruit begins to soften.

Pour the plums and elderberries into an ovenproof dish.

For the crumble topping place flour and sugar in a bowl and add the cold butter. Rub the butter into the flour and sugar mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the almond crackle or nuts if using. Scatter the crumble topping over the plum and elderberries and bake for 30 -40 minutes until bubbling and golden.

Serve with ice cream or Greek yogurt.

Elderberry cordial

Makes about 750ml (three small bottles)

INGREDIENTS

1 plastic carrier bag of elderberries.

550g Granulated sugar

Method

Rinse elderberries in cold water and remove from their stalks. Place the elderberries in a saucepan with enough water to cover.

Simmer for 10 minutes and mash with a flat headed potato masher.

Strain the cooked elderberries through muslin or straining bag and make sure to extract every last drop of juice.

Add 500g of granulated sugar to each 500ml of juice and bring to the boil and then lower the heat to a simmer for 10 minutes. Allow the elderberry liquor to cool, and bottle in sterilised glass bottles.

Apple syrup

Makes about 250ml (one small bottle)

INGREDIENTS

1kg eating apples or 750ml unfiltered apple juice

Method

Juice the apples. Place the juice in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer the juice for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and removing any scum that forms.

Reduce the liquid to about a third of its original volume. Leave to cool slightly before storing in a bottle or airtight container in the fridge.

*Joan Ransley is a member of the Guild of Food Writers. See www.joanransley.co.uk