I was recently in a state of shock when looking at the calendar. Nearly the end of September? How can it be? This year has flown by far quicker than I could have imagined, and these last few months of work on ARAN Bakery have surely contributed to that. I feel soothed, though, by the season we are now bang in the middle of – when the weather starts to turn, the air smells fresher, and the shops turn their stocks around to make way for a bounty of orchard fruit and hedgerow treats. Call me biased (I am a November baby), but this half of the year is my favourite, dark drizzly afternoons and all.

Alongside the huge variety of apples, pears and even quince available now, we have damsons and sloes. These dark little jewels can be found throughout the countryside, and are free (and often tastier) when foraged yourself. Though neither should be eaten raw, damsons are transformed when boiled, baked and preserved, and sloes paired with my two favourite ingredients – gin and sugar (in that order) – makes a delicious winter cocktail.

Potting and preserving: Flora Shedden shows us how to make the most of the last fresh fruits Credit: Chris Watt Photography/ Chris Watt

I adore the cooking methods we turn to at this time of year to preserve the last of the fresh fruits, and as I write this to a soundtrack of heavy rain there is a big pot of chutney on the hob waiting to be jarred. The damson cheese I have shared this week (a firm fruit paste to serve with actual cheese) makes the most of the fruit’s slightly bitter quality – all too often I find traditional quince cheese too sweet. This bitterness does need to be considered when making the jam here; adding some blackberries helps take the edge off, creating a jam that is more cake- and breakfast-friendly.

As much as I would love to be making the most of these days to pot and preserve, it’s time to put on my overalls for more painting and tiling at the bakery. After lots of false predictions (mainly recorded here), I can see ARAN Bakery opening next month – with damson and sloe jam on the shelves of course.

Damson cheese

Makes six small cheeses 

Ingredients

600g damsons
300ml water
400g caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Sunflower oil, for greasing

Method

Cut the damsons in half and remove the stones. This is a fiddly process, so allow enough time for it.
Discard the stones and place the fruit in the bowl of a food processor. Add the water and blitz on a high speed until smooth.
Strain through a sieve to remove any skin. Weigh the sieved pulp – you should have roughly 500g.
Stir in the sugar and the lemon juice then pour into a pan. Bring to the boil then simmer over a low heat for roughly 30 minutes, stirring regularly.
Use a sugar thermometer to read the temperature – once it has reached 107C and is well thickened, remove from the heat.
Grease six small moulds with a little sunflower oil, or alternatively line a small lipped baking tray with greaseproof paper then brush with sunflower oil.
Pour the hot mixture into the moulds or tray.
Allow to set at room temperature for one hour before removing from the moulds. If you have used a tray, slice the damson cheese into squares.
These can be wrapped in cling film and stored in the fridge for up to two months.

Damson and  sloe jam

Fills approximately six 400-450g jars 

Damson jam — Prepare for hibernation with an equal ratio of sloes, damsons and blackberries

Ingredients

1kg mix of sloes, damsons and blackberries (a roughly equal ratio of the three works best; sloes are too bitter on their own)
150ml apple juice
1kg jam sugar

Method

Weigh out the fruit and apple juice into a large heavy-bottomed pan or jam pan.
Bring to the boil slowly and stir regularly. Once boiling, you should notice the stones from the damsons float to the top. Skim off and discard.
Squash any damsons that haven’t quite cooked against the side of the pan then check very carefully again for any stones (sloe stones are much smaller) and discard them.
Add the sugar and boil for a further 15 to 20 minutes, again stirring regularly. Once the jam reaches 104.5C on a sugar thermometer it is ready.
Take off the heat and pour into sterilised jars immediately. Cool for 15 minutes before placing the lids on top.

Autumn Bakewell

Autumn tart — Ease into autumn with a Bakewell tart

Serves

10 to 12 

Ingredients

For the pastry

150g butter
300g plain flour, plus more for dusting
50g icing sugar
50g ground almonds
1 large egg

For the almond topping

150g ground almonds
50g self-raising flour
150g caster sugar
150g unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

To assemble

250g sloe and damson jam
2 eating apples, cored and sliced into half-moon slivers 5mm thick
Flaked almonds to decorate

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6
Blitz all the pastry ingredients in a food mixer to a smooth dough. Tip out onto a surface and form it into a flat disc. Cover with cling film and chill for 20 minutes
Once rested, roll out on a lightly floured surface until roughly 3mm thick. Use it to line a 23cm tart tin and trim off any excess. Prick the base with a fork then place in the fridge to chill for a further 20 minutes
Once firm to the touch, bake for 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn golden (as long as the dough has been chilled and has not been over-worked, you won’t need to blind bake it)
Set the pastry case aside to cool and turn the oven down to 180C/Gas 4
Beat together topping ingredients until smooth
Spoon the jam over the base of the baked pastry case and level it out
Set aside a quarter of the apple slices and scatter the rest evenly over the jam. Spoon in the almond mixture a dollop at a time, trying not to move the apples and jam. Gently spread it level then scatter with the remaining apples and flaked almonds
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown, and nearly set. Allow to cool before slicing

Flora’s cookbook, Gatherings: Recipes for Feasts Great and Small (Mitchell Beazley, £25) is available from books.telegraph.co.uk