July brings warm sunny days and balmy nights, ideal for going for a walk and having a look to see what is ripening in your local hedgerows.

Wild apple trees can often be found alongside park embankments and hedges.  Quite simply the result of somebody’s discarded apple core whilst out walking or thrown from car windows on roadside verges.

Wild apple found on park boundary

Apples do not grow true from seed, so a thrown away a Cox’s orange Pippin core is unlikely to result in a tree bearing the same fruit, but will have been cross polinated with other species to form a different variety.
It is estimated that there are hundreds of these types of “wild” trees and the fruits are very edible.

We found our apple trees at the edge of a public park, maybe planted on purpose or they maybe just grew from a discarded core.

Wild apple ripening

When picking this type of fruit, always be aware that it may belong to somebody or be on their land, in which case you will need to obtain permission before taking the fruit. Take care not to pick fruit too close to a roadside, as apples will have been polluted by exhaust gasses from passing vehicles.

The correct way to pick an apple is to cup it gently with your hand and a slight twist should free it from the branch.  Do not pull the stalk and leaves from the branch as this is next year’s fruiting spur.

Generally, “wild apples” are best used for cooking and making jellies.  One of the reasons for this is that the fruit can be quite acidic and sometimes too tart to be used as an eating apple.  They do lend themselves well to being included in crumbles, pies and jellies and are well worth looking out for.

Many larger or older gardens may also contain an apple tree or two, sometimes a wonderful heritage variety.  The owners of such trees very rarely use all the fruit themselves and may be willing to offer you some in return for a jar of the finished product or a small fee.

When travelling country roads one often comes across signs attached to gateposts or propped against trees proclaiming “fresh fruit and veg” as well as many other delights such as free range eggs and honey.

One such occasion was yesterday, for once a dry and mild Saturday, enabling us to take our dogs Buster and Charlie for a good long run to stretch their rain weary legs.

A day out by the sea was required and on the way we chose to take the back roads which wind past many small farms and villages.

At this time of year the soft fruit is ripening and sure enough, on a fence was a sign saying “blackcurrants and raspberries”.  Turning off the road onto a narrow farm lane overhung by what promised to be quite a crop of apples later in the year, we came to a small courtyard with a table bearing boxes brimming with ripe, juicy fruits.

At only £1.20 for 500g of currants and £0.75p for a box of raspberries, we helped ourselves to the pickings and left the money in the honesty box on the table. I think I got quite a bargain, as most of the large supermarkets charge around £1.00 to £1.79 for 250g of currants.

The next stop yielded some free range eggs, tomatoes, beetroot and some lovely home made lemon curd.

In fact all of the produce you see on the table below was purchased for just slightly under £10.00.

Some of the raspberries, we could not resist eating on the way home, but once home we promptly washed and froze the fruit for later use.