What’s in Season: Autumn

Autumn brings orchard fruit and heavier vegetables for slower cooking. What’s available, and when, varies by region and by the season itself, so treat this as a starting point and ask at your market what’s good that week.

Fruit

• Apples and pearsThe main harvest runs through autumn. Pears ripen from the inside out: press gently near the stem to check.
• PomegranatesHeavy for their size is a good sign. To get the seeds out, halve them and tap the back with a wooden spoon over a bowl.
• QuincesToo hard and sour to eat raw, but slow-cooked they turn soft, fragrant and pink.
• Figs and grapesThe last of the summer fruit, into early autumn.

Vegetables

• Butternut and pumpkinWhole ones keep for weeks somewhere cool and dry. Roast with the skin on and scoop out the flesh.
• Sweet potatoesStore them at room temperature, not in the fridge.
• MushroomsBrush them clean rather than soaking them, so they brown instead of steaming.