LATE SUMMER TO EARLY AUTUMN // Recipe for four

Roadside apples and wild blackberries

My favourite roadside findings are the random apple trees that grow wild – they are not sprayed and bear the most beautiful fruit each year. I love to use the apples when they are sharpest and most sour. That works well in our region as the wild blackberries are full of sugar and are very ripe at exactly the same time. So this is a dish that’s almost entirely from the side of the road. The frozen apple juice does have to be made with a nitrogen bowl, as it maintains the integrity of the sour apples – if you own one of these, follow the manufacturer’s safety instructions very carefully at all times.

FROZEN APPLE JUICE

500 ml (17 fl oz) fresh apple juice (unpeeled apples, juiced)

60 ml (2 fl oz) lime juice

2 teaspoons sugar syrup

Liquid nitrogen

Once the apples are juiced, add the lime juice and sugar syrup. Half-fill a nitrogen bowl with liquid nitrogen, add the apple juice and stir until it becomes a fine frozen powder.

STEEPED BLACKBERRIES

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) blackberries

150 g (5½ oz) cane sugar

5 eucalyptus leaves

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan with 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water and cook over low heat for 1 hour. Remove from the heat and pour into a tray to cool down.

APPLE JAM

400 g (14 oz) apples, unpeeled

200 g (7 oz) cane sugar

80 ml (2½ fl oz) olive oil

Grate all the apples, using the cores and seeds as well. Put in a pan with the sugar and oil and cook over low heat for just over 1 hour until translucent. Chill until needed.

PLANTS TO FINISH

Blackberry flowers

Forest fern tips