Codlin Cream

A raw fruit fool, thickened with cake crumb rather than eggs or gelatine. The whole thing hangs on the apples being soft and juicy enough to break down under pressure.

• What a codlin isA codling is an early-season English cooking apple, picked young, soft-fleshed and sharp. Twelve good-sized ones is roughly 3 lb of fruit. Use any tart apple that collapses readily -- Bramley, Gravenstein, an early windfall -- and avoid firm dessert varieties, which stay gritty.
• Raw, not cookedNothing here is heated. The apple is pounded raw, so its flavour is green and acidic rather than the mellow taste of stewed apple. If that is not what you want, cook and cool the pulp first, but the texture will be looser and you will need less cream.
• BrowningRaw pounded apple oxidises within minutes and will turn beige. Work in a squeeze of lemon juice as you go, and mix the cream in promptly rather than letting the pulp stand.
• Imperial measuresThis is a British book, so a pint is 20 fl oz -- about 2.5 US cups. "Thick cream" is best read as double cream, around 48% fat; heavy cream is the nearest equivalent. A "glass" of wine is an imprecise measure; a wineglassful in this period is usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz.
• Mortar to processorA food processor does the pounding in seconds, but pulse it. Run it continuously and you get thin apple sauce with no body, which the cream cannot rescue.
• The sponge cakeStale sponge crumb is the thickener; it swells in the cream and gives the mixture spoonable body. One small plain sponge, crumbled fine, is enough for a pint of cream. Add it gradually and stop when the mixture holds a soft shape.
• Yield and servingEnough for six to eight small glasses. Chill for an hour before serving so the crumb hydrates fully, and serve the same day -- it slackens and browns overnight.