Whether you're into a crisp crunch, a sweet, juicy flavour or the tart tang that makes a crumble or pie a dessert to savour, the apple is a favourite for both gardeners and bakers.
Now that we are well and truly into autumn, apples have started falling from the trees by the score.
Kirsty Postlethwaite, 29, who runs The Bakehouse, Greenodd with her partner Chris Small, says apple pies are still very much a favourite with customers.
She said: "We have baskets of apples in at the moment. I picked them myself from a friend's garden just down the road at Plumpton.
"Apple pies and apple strudels are both firm favourites in the shop and when I bake them I usually stick to a classic recipe with Bramley apples and a short, sweet pastry."
Want to make you own apple pie? Well there is a vast choice of recipes out there. You can keep it classic like Kirsty, or add a little cinnamon like the Americans do for their Thanksgiving celebrations in November.
Kirsty said: "The best thing to remember when creating homemade pastry for a pie is never to overwork it and always to use real butter."
Now you're equipped with some top tips on baking with apples but what about growing them yourself? If you want the freshest apple for your crumble it is often best to grow them at home.
If you can't see yourself waiting several years to reap the fruits of your apple tree then you're in luck. Gardeners can keep their fingers green during the autumn months by growing little apple trees in pots.
Many apple trees can be grown in a pot, provided they are bought on the appropriate dwarfing rootstock, supplied with pollinating companion trees and kept well fed and watered.
Free-standing trees or upright cordons are best for growing this way, trained as pyramid or bush trees. Dwarf pyramids are conical in shape and trained to produce tiers of branches all the way up the main trunk, starting around 60cm above the soil surface.
When planting your miniature apple trees, you should fill the pot to a level where the graft union of the fruit tree will be above the surface of the compost once it is planted. Then anchor a thick bamboo cane into the bottom of the container to support the tree.
The Royal Horticultural Society recommends the following culinary apples for growing in containers: Arthur Turner; Bountiful; and Howgate Wonder, while its dessert apple recommendations include Alkmene, Discovery, Falstaff and Fiesta.
The vital thing is to keep container-grown trees well watered, particularly during hot summers. Add water-retaining granules to the soil and mulch or underplant with spring bulbs or shallow-rooted plants that will keep weeds down and moisture in.
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Homemade Apple-Cinnamon Cake recipe
Ingredients
125g sugar and 1tsp for sprinkling
250g self-raising flour
sifted 50g butter, diced
3 or 4 apples peeled, cored and chopped
1 large egg, beaten
100ml milk
sprinkling of cinnamon
pinch of salt
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 175C. Place the sugar and sifted flour into a large bowl along with the butter, apples a sprinkling of cinnamon and a pinch of salt.
2. Then mix the egg and milk and pour into the bowl then combine.
3. Grease a cake tin (preferably a circular one) and pour in the mixture (which should be fairly wet).
4. Bake for 35 mins before removing from the oven and sprinkling over the sugar and cinnamon then return to the oven for 10 mins more.
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