Fruit

• 1 Sloe-ly does it: Distill your own sloe gin at home
  With the festive season fast approaching, we've been thinking about stocking up our drinks cabinets with winter warmers. And it seems that sloe gin is just the tipple. Sloe berries grow on blackthorn...

• 2 It's crunch time for cooking with apples
  The apple may well be an everyday British fruit but that's not to say that they don't make for the perfect ingredient for delicious recipes and along them comes a number of health benefits. We've...

• 3 Cranberries: A girl's best fruity friend
  After featuring in countless scenes of the Sex and the City, the distinctive cosmopolitan cocktail made a comeback.  And its trademark pinkiness comes from none other than cranberry...

• 4 British cherries: Ripe for revival
  To celebrate the throes of cherry-picking season we have four delightful British cherry desserts. Traditional cherry orchards were phased out in the Sixties and by 2004 there were just a pitiful 960...

• 5 Strawberry Cream Victoria Sponge Cake
  Dish type: Cake Serves 4 people   Preparation time: 20 minutes Baking time: 20 minutes Named after Queen Victoria herself, there are few cakes that can beat this all-time classic recipe. You can...

• 6 Strawberry and Elderflower Sorbet
  Dish type: Dessert A wonderfully refreshing and decadent dessert for fancy summer parties. This can be made in advance then served scooped into pretty tea cups and decorated with tiny pansy or borage...

• 7 Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
  Dish type: Dessert The perfect supper party finale - homemade petite fours will wow your friends, but they are incredibly easy to make and fun to do with the kids.   Preparation time: 5-10...

• 8 Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
  Dish type: Dessert The perfect supper party finale - homemade petite fours will wow your friends, but they are incredibly easy to make and fun to do with the kids.   Preparation time: 5-10...

• 9 Berry Trifle Pots
  Dish type: Dessert You don’t need to worry about buying fancy glasses for this favourite dessert, just recycle glass jars with nice lids, small chocolate spread jars, jam or yogurt pots all work...

• 10 Blackberry jam
  Ingredients (Makes 6 jars) 1kg/2¼lb blackberries, fresh or frozen (defrosted if frozen) 1kg/2¼lb cooking apples, quartered, cored and peeled 300ml/½pt water 1.5kg/3lb...

• 11 steamed pudding, coconut, blackberry, blackberries, dessert, pudding, fruit
  Ingredients (Serves 4) 200g/7oz blackberries, fresh or frozen (defrosted if frozen) 50g/2oz caster sugar 1 tbsp cornflour 2 tbsp water For the sponge 100g/4oz butter, at room...

• 12 Alsace tart
  Ingredients (Serves 6) 400g/14oz shortcrust pastry 500g/1lb 2oz fresh apricots, washed, halved and the stones removed. Alternatively use apples, peeled, cored and sliced 50g/2oz plain flour...

• 13 Ingredient of the week: blood orange
  Smaller than your usual orange, the blood orange does not lack in taste what it lacks in size. Its deep crimson, almost sanguine colour is caused by the presence of anthocyanins – pigments frequently...

• 14 Gordon Ramsay's sherry-glazed figs with pine nut brittle
  Ingredients (Serves 4) 8 large figs 1-2 tbsp caster sugar 25g/1oz unsalted butter 125ml/4½fl oz Pedro Ximénez sherry Crème fraîche, to serve For...

• 15 Raspberry smash cheesecake
  Ingredients (Serves 8-12) For the base 180g digestive biscuits 70g butter, melted For the cream cheese filling 300g philadelphia 200g double cream 50g sugar 250g raspberries...

• 16 How to make Banoffee Caramelised Crisped Rice and Confit Grapefruit
  How to make Banoffee Caramelised Crisped Rice and Confit Grapefruit

• 17 Ingredient of the week: blackberries
  These beautiful black baubles are a forager's favourite - indeed, anyone with an afternoon going spare and a park nearby can head off with a tupperware box and collect a bounty. And then home for pie...

• 18 Strawberry and cucumber salad by Lucas Hollweg
  Ingredients (Serves 4) 1 large cucumber, cut lengthways into strips with a peeler, ideally avoiding the seeds 500g (1lb 2oz) strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced 4 big handfuls of watercress...

• 19 All in one fruit salad
  Ingredients (Serves 2) 1 Florida Grapefruit 1 orange 100ml/4fl oz Greek-style yoghurt 2 tbsp runny honey 40g/1½oz granola with dried fruit Mint sprigs, to decorate...

• 20 Florida smoothie
  Ingredients (Serves 2) 1 Florida Grapefruit 1 banana 100ml/4fl oz Greek-style yoghurt 1-2 tbsp runny honey Mint sprigs, to decorate Method Cut the grapefruit in half, then...