Orchard Fruits
Discover how Scottish chefs and food writers make the most of seasonal orchard fruits. Why not try their delicious recipes?
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Planning & Preperation
- British apples are in season from October to December and pears from September to January.
- There are an exciting variety of apples grown in British orchards ranging from sharp to sweet, crunchy to soft fleshed and coloured from red to green to yellow and all sorts in between.
- Pears ripen from the inside out. This means that they may be soft on the inside but still feel firm on the outside.
- When pears are ripe they will ‘give’ a bit when you press them near the stalk with your thumb.
- If you have cut a pear but found it’s not quite ripe why not try one of our pear recipes.
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Storing- Apples and pears stay fresher for longer in the fridge. You can add them to the fruit bowl before eating to bring back to room temperature.
- To ripen pears, keep them covered and store at room temperature.
- Traditionally, berries have been preserved by making them into jam.
- Apples can be frozen after quickly cooking in boiling water. You can use the frozen apples in cakes or apple sauces.
- Pears are delicate so handle them carefully to avoid bruising.
- If you grow apples
- The best varieties for storing are the cookers like Bramleys or Newton's Wonder, which will keep until April or May.
- Only perfect fruit should be stored - definitely no bruises or insect holes, and preferably no scab or marks on the skin.
- Carefully wrap apples in newspaper and store somewhere cool and dry. Make sure no two pieces of fruit are touching each other.
- Check regularly and remove any rotten apples to stop the rest becoming bad.
- If you grow pears
- Pears are more difficult to store than apples. Conference pears are the best pears for storing, but even these are better preserved by bottling in hot syrup or alcohol.
- Time of harvest is critical for good storage of pears. They should be picked when they are still firm and not left to ripen on the tree.
- Store pears on slatted shelves or trays in a single layer. Do not wrap or store in plastic bags.
- Pears are at their best for a short time only, so check frequently and bring into a warm room when nearing ripeness to finish off the process.
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Portioning- One medium apple or pear makes a perfect portion. If you are using cooked or dried fruit allow 80g per person. This is equivalent to:
- 4 dried apple rings
- 2 heaped tablespoons of apple puree
- 2 dried pear halves
- Apple and Pears are a tasty way of getting one of your recommended five fruit and vegetable portions a day.
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| | Recipe Ideas- For a special treat try poaching pears in red wine and vanilla.
- Make salads more interesting by adding sliced apple or pear.
- Soft apples can be used to make apple sauce or one of our other delicious apple recipes.
- Apple sauces are easy to make. Just peel and chop apples, add a little water, lemon juice and sugar and cook in a pan for about 15 minutes. It tastes delicious with pork, yoghurt or as a topping on porridge.
- Baked apples are a delicious and easy dessert to make. Simply core an apple, add dried fruit, brown sugar, a little butter and cinnamon and bake for about an hour.
- Ingredients such as cinnamon, caramel and blackberries are a great accompaniment to apples.
- Grated apple or sliced pear is a healthy topping on porridge, try and add some fruit flavour to your breakfast.
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