You can eat anything you like...

As long as it's an apple.

This is an old end of town, and high up too. But though we are very near the hill of gibbets, and the ancient wood, and though Sauron's tower dominates the skyline, this place has no evocation of anything more subtle than long ago dairy farms. Hip deep in ghosts it ain't, especially our back yard, which has nothing in it except three trees all tangled together. One is a mountain ash, one is a corkscrew hazel, and one - the star of the yard - is an apple tree. I have seen our neighbour use her broom to hoick* one of the branches round and pluck a couple. No problems with her scrumping, there's plenty to spare and, as our kitchen can currently testify, the tree is generous. Every carrier bag in the house is stuffed with its gifts. We are apple rich. And the question is...

Well exactly. Apple wine? sounds complex and we don't have the equipment. Maybe next year. Cider? same. Crumble? Done it last night, the apples are grand cookers and it tasted great. But we have loads left, and there's now a pond of stewed apple lurking in our freezer. Chutney? We did that... it's a pungent exercise, but by the end it looked and smelled terrific. Now it's sitting there in six sterile little jars, where we have to leave it for 2/3 months.

And still we have apples. They will not keep till Halloween. Jam sounds nice, but apple is such a delicate flavour, what can you put it with that won't swamp the taste?

*Possibly not a word.