An apple a day … especially on 21 October
I recently learned that 21 October is National Apple Day in the UK – a day devoted to raising awareness of traditional orchards and varieties of apples, of which there are at least 7,000. I was surprised to learn this! In the UK, apples are usually either for eating or for cooking, the latter containing a high content of malic acid – responsible for the tart flavour – which makes them cook down into a purée. Emily’s recipe for baked apple pudding (see It’s coming up apples) makes good use of cooking apples and leftover bread. Russett apples, with their crisp flesh, can either be eaten raw or cooked, such as in this recipe for apple jelly (jam). This would be delicious with roast pork.
Apple Jelly
Take some of the best Russett apples, cut them in quarters, peel them, & take out the pips & core very carefully – put them in a pan upon the fire with enough water to let them float easily, when the fruit is become a marmalade, take them off the fire, & pour it upon a sieve well cleaned, place that over a bowl to receive what passes through the sieve, & then let that pass thru’ a jelly bag after having measured your liquor [?] then take an equal quantity of clarified sugar & put them together, taking care to stir them well while on the fire, to prevent rising over the pan which it is apt to do – When your liquor forms a sort of skin you take it off the fire & put it into your preserving pots, but not cover it up till the next day.
I wanted to try Emily’s recipe for a classic dish, Apple Charlotte. A charlotte is a type of pudding made in a mould lined with either bread slices or sponge fingers. Apple Charlotte is thought to be named after Queen Charlotte (1744–1818), wife of George III. She was a keen botanist and may have been a patron of apple growers. Food historian Regula Ysewijn has found a printed recipe for the dish dating from 1802, and suggests it may appear in earlier manuscript books. Although Emily began transcribing her recipes some 30 years after this date, her Apple Charlotte recipe is attributed to Mrs C. Parry, which raises the intriguing possibility that this recipe does indeed predate 1802.
Mrs C. Parry was Sarah (née Rigby), the wife of Dr Caleb Hillier Parry (1755–1822), a celebrated Bath physician who treated Emily’s mother, Hannah, until her death in 1803. The two families were related: Hannah’s first cousin, Rev. Thomas Garnier (Dean of Winchester), married the Parry’s daughter, Mary. Several recipes attributed to both Dr and Mrs Parry appear in Emily’s book. Sarah Parry died aged 82 in 1833 and was buried in Bath Abbey, beneath a vault that bears a lengthy and touching testament to her life. Her lifespan was almost the same as that of Queen Charlotte.
‘Kind heaven prolonged her life to spread its praise, and blest her with a patriarch’s length of days. The truest praise was hers a cheerful heart, prone to enjoy and ready to impart.’
Charlotte apple pie / Mrs C. Parry
Cut as many slices of white bread cut very thin as will cover the bottom & sides of the dish first rubbing the dish or Pan very thick with butter; then cut apples in slices put a layer with some white sugar strewed over it, & a few slices of butter, do this till the dish is full, then cover them with thin slices of bread, & put on the lid of a stewpan & press it down hard – Bake it 3 hours, & turn it out of the Pan & serve it – It should look a fine brown – Half a lb of butter is the proper quantity to use –
The good thing about this recipe is that it is easily adapted to different sizes of dishes, and it is very quick to make (especially if you leave the crusts on the bread as I did, though it’s probably better to remove them). With only two people in the house presently, I made a small version in a loaf mould and baked it in a moderate oven (160°C) for an hour. Being someone who struggles to choose between apple pie and apple crumble, this dish has the advantage of tasting a bit like both – very delicious with a dollop of clotted cream and quickly devoured! I will make this again.
Rosemary Russetts, a variety of eating apple grown in the heritage orchard at Stourhead in Wiltshire (photographed October 2025)
Sarah Parry (Chronicles of the Garniers of Hampshire during four centuries 1530–1900 via Wikimedia)
Sarah Parry’s Charlotte apple pie