Vegetarian

Season: July to September: Harissa is a North African ingredient used to enhance many fish and meat dishes, as well as couscous and soups. I also like to use my version to make a fruity, fiery dipping sauce (see below) to serve with pork, fish, or prawns. The strength of the paste depends on the variety and quantity of chiles used. The chances are that this recipe, which I would describe as moderately hot, will merely tickle the palate of out-and-out chile freaks. But all you need do to make it more fiery is increase the amount of chiles, include more of their seeds (see below), or perhaps add one or two very hot little dried chiles.

Season: July to September. I love the gutsy flavor of these tomatoes and like to serve them as part of a crisp smoked bacon and beet salad or a hearty couscous salad with plenty of fresh cilantro. There are times, though, when I can’t resist eating them from the jar! Ideally, the fruit would be sun-dried, but slowly drying them in a very low oven achieves similar and very pleasing results.

Season: September to October. The raw flesh of the lumpy yellow quince is dry and disagreeably sour. However, once cooked, it becomes pink and highly perfumed. Lightly sweetened and combined with good fluffy cooking apples, such as Granny Smiths, it makes a delightful accompaniment for roast pork or duck. I also love this aromatic fruity sauce on a home-baked rice pudding.

Season: July to late October. This recipe comes from Liz Neville, a virtuoso preserves maker with whom I run the River Cottage Preserved courses. You can make it with any raspberry, but we particularly like to use the big autumn berries. Bottle a few and you can extend your raspberry eating well into the dark winter months. In an ideal world, the fruit for this preserve would be packed into the jars as you pick it from the canes. That may not be possible–but do make sure the fruit is in tip-top condition and handled as little as possible.

Season: July to August. The big, platelike leaves of the nasturtium plant (Tropaeolum majus) are abundant throughout the summer and often well into the golden months of autumn. With their peppery flavor, they make the perfect base for a fiery pesto. Add a sprig or two of garden mint, a few golden marigold petals, and some spicy nasturtium seeds and you have a wonderful sauce to stir into pasta, swirl on soups, or just smear in a sandwich. Pick the leaves on a warm, dry day–ideally, earlier in the summer, before the caterpillars have decided to feast on them. Whenever I make pesto, I replace the traditional Parmesan with a hard goat’s cheese, matured for a year. It makes an excellent alternative to Parmesan in all kinds of dishes.

Season: winter. It may seem somewhat unnecessary to preserve dried fruit, but I love having a few jars of this compote on the shelf. The once-shriveled fruits become plump and luscious and are quite delicious served alone for breakfast or with yogurt or crème fraîche as a dessert. I like to make this in early November, when newly dried prunes, figs, and apricots are available. Keep on the lookout for small, dried wild figs, which will plump up perfectly to their original shapely selves. The glistening black prunes from the Agen area in southern France are also key players–I prefer to use these un pitted because they infuse the compote with an almondlike essence. A simplified version of the oven method is used–everything is cooked and hot to start with, so the jars don’t need to be heated for an extended time in the oven.

Season: August to early October. The Brogdale Trust in Kent is home to the National Fruit Collection–a bit like a Noah’s Ark for the fruits of the earth. Among their many living specimens, they grow over 300 different cultivars of Prunus domestica, the European plum–also known as dessert plums. These fruits crop from high summer right through into October, giving us plenty to eat fresh, and loads to preserve for later in the year. In the United States, European plums can be found at farmers’ markets, growing in backyards, or at some supermarkets. Or you can preserve peach, nectarine, or apricot halves in the same way.

Season: August to September. For me, tomato passata is an essential pantry ingredient. I use it as a base for my roasted tomato ketchup (see p. 187), as well as for pasta sauces and curries. The best time to make this preserve is when tomatoes are at their cropping peak–smelling strong, sweet, and aromatic when picked from the vine. This recipe uses 4 1/2 pounds of fruit but, if you are using bought tomatoes as opposed to homegrown ones, I suggest you negotiate a good deal with your local grower and buy a boxful or two. You certainly won’t regret it. You can’t buy passata like this one!

Season: June to August. The rich, intense flavor of black currants is well preserved by canning, and I find it very useful to have a few jars on the larder shelf. Preserved currants are delicious served with hot steaming custard, vanilla ice cream, or good plain yogurt. When friends drop by, I often open a jar for an instant dessert.

Season: Late September to October. The shapely rosehip is the fleshy fruit of the rose. The orange-red berries that appear in the autumn contain a crowd of creamy-white seeds protected by tiny irritant hairs, which is why they should never be eaten raw. Rosehips are rich in vitamins A and C and have long been used for making jams, jellies, wine, tea, and, of course, syrup. This recipe is based on one issued by the British Ministry of Defence during the Second World War when rosehips were gathered by volunteers. The syrup made from the fruit was fed to the nation’s children. Use this rosehip syrup mixed with hot water as a warming winter drink. I also love it drizzled neat over rice pudding or pancakes. Or try this recipe of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s for a refreshing summer cocktail: pour 2 tablespoons of rosehip syrup into a tall glass. Add 1/4 cup of white rum and mix well. Add a few ice cubes and pour in about 2/3 cup of tart apple juice. Garnish with a sprig of mint and serve with a straw.

Season: Autumn to winter. The Italians use fiery-hot mustard oil to add a bit of passion to their classic fruit preserve mostardo di cremona. However, mustard oil is pretty well impossible to purchase in this country, so I have used mustard seeds and powder to pep up the dried figs in my own interpretation of the dish. Serve it with hot or cold meat, with oily fish dishes, or with cheese in sandwiches.

Season: October to January. Spices, onions, and a traditional malty ale give this robust, pub-style chutney plenty of character, while the natural sugars in the root vegetables help sweeten it. It is delicious served with farmhouse Cheddar, crusty bread, and a pint or two.

Season: winter. Onions are one of the most versatile ingredients in the culinary world, but they are not often given the chance to be the star of their own show. A recipe like this puts that right. Long, slow cooking turns a panful of red, white, or yellow onions into a fantastic rich sauce-cum-jam that’s brilliant served with sausages and mashed potatoes, and a heap of other dishes too. Try it with cheese on toast or with cold meat in sandwiches, or stir a spoonful into a creamy pumpkin soup.

Season: Late August to September. Dark-skinned with a bluish bloom, small oval damson plums are very tart and well flavored, which makes them wonderful for preserving. This is a straightforward recipe that keeps the fruit whole and tender. I love warming cinnamon and allspice in the mix, but you can use any spices you fancy, or even a good tablespoonful of ready-made pickling spice (see p. 89). These sweet spiced damsons are a lovely addition to any buffet table and splendid with cold poultry.

Season: August to September. Runner beans are a bit of a love-or-hate vegetable and are often scorned in favor of other green beans. I do sympathize with those who don’t eat them – we’ve all been served rubbery, graying old runners at some time or another and they’re no fun at all. However, young tender green runner beans are altogether different, and this recipe is just perfect for these guys. It has been eaten and enjoyed by nearly everyone who has walked into my kitchen, so I hope that reproducing it here will convert a few more bean haters. I think pickled beans are great alongside cold meats and salads. Use a couple of jars that are at least 5 inches high – taller, if possible – so that the beans can show off their length.

Season: August to December. I love pickled fruits and always look forward to opening a jar to serve with cold poultry and ham. Small, hard pears are ideal for use in this recipe, and it’s a very good way to deal with a barrel-load of them. If you stick with the basic quantities of sugar and vinegar, this recipe can easily be adapted for use with other fruits and different spices (see the variations below).

Season: July to September. This is a wonderful way to use up an abundance of cucumbers, be they long and uniform green, or the short, knobbly-skinned type. It’s also very quick and easy to make if you use a food processor. This is not a true preserve, as the cucumbers are not brined and the pickle is very light, but it will keep well in the fridge for a couple of weeks in a sealed container. I love this sweet condiment with all manner of salads and in sandwiches, but it’s especially delectable with hot-smoked trout or salmon.

Season: June to October. This is essentially Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s classic Glutney, or River Cottage chutney, which first appeared in The River Cottage Cookbook. The fruit and vegetable chopping is time-consuming, but important. Whizzing everything up in a food processor would give a very different, sloppy-textured result.

Season: May to July. Made with the reddish green stalks of main-crop or field rhubarb, this relish is quick and easy, involving much less cooking than a chutney would require. It is light, very fruity, and not too sweet. Delicious with curries, oily fish, chicken, and cheese and in sandwiches, it’s a versatile addition to the larder. Rhubarb, by the way, is very easy to prepare, but do take care to always remove the leaves, as they are poisonous.

Season: September to November. Autumn is the season for apples. For centuries, the apple crop has been important, and the apple tree cherished and celebrated for its fruit. Wassailing is an English West Country tradition when, on Twelfth Night of old (January 17), country folk toast and drink to the health of the largest and most prolific apple tree in the orchard for a healthy, fruitful crop the coming season. The sharp and bittersweet qualities of cider give this old-fashioned apple butter a special flavor. It’s a sensational fruity spread to daub over hot buttered toast or crumpets.