Fruit

Ivory Coast pineapples should now be excellent value. It is a shame to do more than remove the skins and eat the flesh in great unadulterated chunks so that the sweet juice runs down your chin. Or try freshly cut chunks or slices spiked with golden rum. The best bananas this month are from the Windward Isles.

As Coxes near the end of their storage season, Jonagold – a cross between Golden Delicious and Jonathan which keeps particularly well – will take over the market for home-produced apples.

The short season for blood oranges is about over, although there should be plenty of other citrus around. Lemons are simple to preserve. Cram them into a sterilised jar and cover with white wine vinegar or good olive oil (improve the shelf-life of this preparation by sticking each lemon with half a dozen cloves first). Or cut ripe lemons or limes in half, roll in handfuls of dry salt and pack tightly into a jar, with more lemon juice to cover, for a few weeks. For best results, buy organically grown fruit (the Israeli Biotop label, for example), which have skins untreated with wax and ammonia.