What’s in season: November
There's plenty of great home-grown produce around to nourish the soul in November.
For roasting, choose squash and pumpkins, carrots, celeriac, parsnips, turnips, swede, beetroot and Jerusalem artichokes. All make terrific soups, too, so roast double while the oven's on, then make into soup.
Healthy greens are great to go with all those hearty comfort foods - Brussels tops, cabbages, spring and winter greens, kale and chard. It's the start of the British leek season, too. Roast them, slow cook in butter or steam... Cultivated and wild mushrooms are plentiful, too, weather permitting.
Early autumn fruits include later English apples, like the Orleans Reinette, Blenheim Orange and Egremont Russet. Bramleys are plentiful for cooking. Pears to look for: Concorde, Doyenne du Comice, Conference and Winter Nellis. There should still be late raspberries around, too.
The exotic quince is ready to be poached in a sugar syrup for tarts, and makes a delicious jam. In the hedgerow you'll find sloes on blackthorn bushes for home-made sloe gin. Macerate in half the sloes' weight of sugar, top up with gin and leave in a cool, dark place in a sterilised Kilner jar, shaking occasionally, for four to six weeks. Strain then bottle, ready for a Christmas tipple.
The best fish: home-caught sea bass, whiting and mackerel, as well as fab lobster, mussels, oysters, prawns and scallops.
