Making the Most of an Autumn Glut

There is a particular week each autumn when the kitchen table disappears under bags of apples. Windfalls from the orchard, a sackful from a neighbour, another bag pushed through the door after a church coffee morning. It is a lovely problem to have, and the best answer is always to cook them rather than let them moulder in the shed. British apples, especially the sharp cooking varieties, hold their shape and their tang wonderfully well, and almost everything below freezes or jars up to see you through to spring. None of it needs special equipment, and all of it uses everyday ingredients you probably already have in the pantry.

Getting the Prep Right

Before you start, sort your crop. Bruised apples and any with brown rot should be dealt with straight away; cut out the damage and use the sound flesh first, as it will not keep. Perfectly sound fruit will last for weeks in a cool, dark, frost-free shed, laid out on slatted trays in single layers so air can move between them.

For cooking, Bramleys are the gold standard, but Cox's, Russets and any windfall eaters work beautifully alongside them. A mix of varieties gives a deeper, more interesting flavour than a single type. Here is what is worth knowing before you pick up a peeler:

• Use a mix. One part sharp cookers to two parts sweeter eaters makes a well-balanced crumble or pie filling without much added sugar.
• Add a little acid. A squeeze of lemon juice stops peeled apples browning while you work through a big pile.
• Keep the skins on for chutney. They add colour, pectin and body, so there is no need to peel for preserves.
• Freeze in portions. Bags of peeled, sliced apple take up far less room than the whole fruit and are ready to use from frozen.

Slow-Baked Apple and Blackberry Crumble

A crumble is the first thing most of us make with a new crop, and it freezes better than you might expect. This one serves six and doubles without trouble.

You will need 1kg of peeled, sliced apples, 200g of blackberries if you have them (frozen are fine), 75g of caster sugar, and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. For the topping, rub 200g of plain flour and 100g of cold butter together until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs, then stir through 75g of demerara sugar and a handful of porridge oats.

Toss the fruit with the caster sugar and cinnamon in a deep ovenproof dish, scatter the crumble over the top without pressing it down, and bake at 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4) for 35 to 40 minutes, until the fruit bubbles at the edges and the topping is golden. Cool completely before freezing, then wrap well. Reheat from frozen at 180°C for about 45 minutes, covering with foil if the top starts to catch. Serve with custard or a jug of cold double cream.

Spiced Apple Chutney

Chutney is the answer to a truly enormous crop, and it improves for weeks in the jar. This makes roughly six 500ml jars.

• 1.5kg cooking apples, peeled, cored and diced
• 500g onions, finely chopped
• 300g sultanas or raisins
• 400g light muscovado sugar
• 500ml cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon each of ground ginger, mixed spice and salt

Put everything in a heavy-based pan and bring slowly to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Then leave it to bubble gently for one and a half to two hours, stirring now and then so it does not catch. It is ready when you drag a wooden spoon through the middle and the gap stays put with no liquid rushing back in. Pot into warm, sterilised jars with vinegar-proof lids, filling right to the top. Leave for four to six weeks in a cool cupboard before opening, and it will keep for a year or more.

Freezer Apple Pie Filling

This is the most useful thing you can do with a big pile of apples, because a pie then becomes a twenty-minute job in January. Peel, core and slice 1.5kg of apples, then toss with 150g of caster sugar (a little more if your fruit is very sharp), 2 tablespoons of cornflour, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and the juice of half a lemon. The cornflour is what thickens the juices so your pastry does not go soggy.

Bag it in portions of about 900g, press flat to save space, and label with the date. It keeps for up to twelve months. To bake, line a dish with pastry, tip in the filling still frozen, add a lid, brush with milk and bake at 200°C (180°C fan, gas mark 6) for 20 minutes, then drop to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4) for another 35 to 40 minutes. A little stewed apple left over is lovely spooned over porridge the next morning.

Apple Sauce and Other Everyday Standbys

Apple sauce deserves more credit than it gets. Peel and chop 1kg of apples, simmer with 2 tablespoons of water and 50g of sugar until collapsing, then beat smooth or leave it rough. Freeze in ice cube trays, tip the cubes into a bag, and you have perfect single portions for pork chops, roast goose or a bowl of yoghurt.

Two more ideas worth keeping in your back pocket. Grate a couple of sharp apples into a sausage and apple traybake with onions and potatoes, which is a Tuesday tea if ever there was one. And for a sweet fix, stew sliced apples with a spoonful of honey, spread thinly on a lined tray and dry in a very low oven for four to five hours to make chewy fruit leather that children will happily take to school. Between the crumble, the chutney and the freezer bags, that autumn glut starts to look like a well-stocked larder rather than a chore.