“Where we come from, the South Downs National Park, it can get pretty competitive in the hedgerows round this time of year. The first blackberries are at their best towards the end of August, and everyone wants to get in on the action.
Even my mother’s old dog would hoover up the ripe fruit from the bottom of each bush, as she plodded her way round her morning walk. According to tradition, you must not pick any more blackberries after Michaelmas Day in early October, as the devil has rotted the fruit; there is a certain amount of truth in part of this, in that they have started to attract mould by this time. So we went out and picked a couple of punnets last weekend, remembering to leave plenty for the birds.
It’s still a bit too early for our Bramley Apple Tree, so we bought some locally. The first Bramley grew from pips planted by a young girl in Nottinghamshire in 1809. Fifty years later, the new owner of the house, a Mr Bramley, allowed a local farmer to take cuttings of his tree but only on the condition that the resulting fruit was called after him. Bramley Apples are now a multi-million pound business, but the old tree in Nottinghamshire still fruits every year” by Roger Morgan-Grenvield
How to make your own delicious Blackberry and Apple Crumble in the comfort of your own home
With the harvesting season well and truly over for these delightful British fruits, you can still make a delicious crumble with those being stored within your freezer.
A perfect desert to accompany a Sunday roast, we have what we believe to be a scrumptious and easy recipe to get you excited for the upcoming weekend.
Foraged Forest Fruit Crumble for 4 people
For the crumble:-
120g plain flour
60g cold unsalted butter, diced
60g caster suger
For the filling:-
450g of prepared fruit
1 tsp ground cinnamon
30g demerara sugar
30g unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until it is all mixed in, then add the sugar and continue to rub the mixture until you have clumps. These clumps give the crumble a nice texture when it is cooked. If you prefer to use a food processor, then the crumb will be very fine, so you can finish it off by hand: rubbing the mixture between your fingers and thumb to create some nice big clumps.
Core, peel and slice the apples, toss them in the lemon juice and then put them into a slightly greased Chasseur Rectangular Dish, scattering layers of apple with blackberries and sugar.
Flatten the fruit and add the crumble topping, pressing it down lightly. Put the crumble on a baking sheet in the oven and food for 25 minutes or until the crumble is cooked and golden brown.
When it comes to cooking your next crumble, you will be surprised to hear that you can cook your Foraged Fruit Crumble in either our Chasseur casserole dish or in the iron cast Chasseur frying pan.
To take a look at our full Chasseur collection, click here.