The Best Hedgerow Fruits for Autumn Picking

There is a week in early autumn when the hedgerows seem to change colour overnight. The hawthorn leaves bronze at the edges, the blackberries hang fat and dusty, and the sloes on the blackthorn turn a deep, bloom-covered blue-black. For anyone who cooks, this is the best free larder in Britain — and it is open to anyone with a pair of boots, a basket and a little patience.

Read the Hedge Before You Pick

Good foraging starts with good manners. Pick from the upper half of the hedge rather than at dog height, and avoid verges beside busy roads or fields that may have been sprayed. Never strip a bush bare: leaving two-thirds of the fruit behind keeps the blackbirds, thrushes and dormice fed through the winter. Take a rigid container rather than a carrier bag, so the fruit does not crush, and bring secateurs and a pair of gardening gloves — you will be glad of both.

• Tools: basket, gloves, secateurs, a walking stick with a hook for high branches
• Clothing: long sleeves, as blackthorn and bramble are unforgiving
• Identification: if you are not completely certain, leave it. A field guide or an experienced companion is worth more than any app

Sloes: Small, Sour and Worth the Wait

Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn, and they ripen from late September well into November. You will often hear that they need a frost to sweeten them. In truth, frost does not make them sweeter — nothing will — but freezing does burst the skins so the flavour infuses properly. If the weather is mild, simply bag your sloes and put them in the freezer for a few days.

For sloe gin, the old ratio still works beautifully: around 450g of sloes, 200g of sugar and a litre of gin, shaken every few days for the first fortnight, then left somewhere cool for three months before straining. Beyond the bottle, sloes make a superb dark jelly to serve with venison or lamb, and a sharp, fruity ketchup that cuts through rich roast pork.

Rosehips: The Sweetest Thing in the Hedge

Dog rose and field rose hips are at their best from September, when they are deep scarlet and give slightly when squeezed. Wear gloves and trim off both ends, then split them and scrape out the hairy seeds — those hairs are a well-known irritant and should never go into the pan. Once prepared, the flesh is remarkably sweet and citrus-like.

Rosehip syrup is the classic use: simmer the chopped hips in water, strain through muslin without squeezing too hard, then reheat the juice with sugar to make a cordial that is lovely dribbled over porridge or stirred into hot water with lemon. Rosehip and apple jelly is another favourite, and a spoonful of rosehip vinegar lifts a winter salad no end.

Crab Apples: The Hedgerow's Natural Pectin

Crab apples are small, knobbly and exceedingly sour, and they are one of the most useful things you can carry home. They are exceptionally high in pectin, which means they set jellies almost without effort and will rescue a batch of blackberry jam that refuses to firm up. Add two or three chopped crab apples to every kilogramme of soft fruit and the set will follow.

Flavour varies enormously from tree to tree, so taste one before you commit. A good crab makes a glowing pink jelly, a spiced crab apple cheese to eat with cheese and oatcakes, and a quietly excellent cider vinegar. Windfalls are perfectly good — just cut away the bruised and maggoty parts.

Elderberries, Damsons, Bullace and Haws

Elderberries ripen in September and must always be cooked; raw, they are unpleasant and mildly toxic. Strip them from the stalks with a fork and simmer them into a dark, aromatic cordial or a spoon-coating elderberry rob. Damsons and bullace appear around the same time, and both make magnificent jam, gin and a slow-cooked fruit cheese for a cheeseboard.

Hawthorn berries, or haws, are fiddly — each one carries a single stone — but they make a fine ketchup or fruit leather if you have the patience. Rowan berries are bitter raw but turn into a beautiful amber jelly for roast game. And of course, blackberries run through the whole season, from the first sour ones in August to the sweeter, smaller fruits of October.

Using Your Haul in the Kitchen

Sort your fruit the day you pick it, discarding stalks, leaves and anything mouldy. Most hedgerow fruit freezes well and can be tipped into the pan straight from frozen, which is a blessing when the season is short and the evenings are busy. For jellies, the rough rule is 450g of sugar to every 600ml of strained juice for high-pectin fruit, and a little more for low-pectin ones.

Sterilise your jars properly, use a saucer in the freezer to test your set, and label everything with the date and the fruit. Then open a jar in February, when the hedge is bare and grey, and taste autumn all over again.