Golden fruit to add succulent flavour while the autumn leaves fall

I have been buying assortments of apples, dipping into the paper bag without looking, crunching skin, flesh and core as I walk back from the shops. As sure as the leaves fall each autumn, the desire to bite into as many different apples as I can, while the season for local varieties is upon us, never lessens. Good russets, hard as Blackpool rock, are around for just a few weeks, as are those varieties of apple you can pick up briefly from farm shops and markets, such as Ashmead’s Kernel, Worcester Pearmain and, if you are lucky, the crisp, ruby-fleshed Red Devil.

I added apples to two salads this week, the first a couple of Cox’s with their signature flash of orange and russet, a sharp crunch to a salad of young kale leaves with a roasted peanut dressing. Later in the week, a couple of ice-cold Worcesters, refreshing and slightly tart, went into a simpler salad with walnuts, chicory, Lancashire cheese and walnut oil. I kept the skinsintact and dressed the fruit quickly, so the flesh kept its bright colour.