Harvest Time
Teatime - Sponsored by Betty Crocker 
Autumn's the best time to show kids the journey made by food from the field to their stomach. Here are some great tips on introducing kids to the great outdoors larder
Back Garden Scrumping
If you've got a fruit tree in your garden, or perhaps your neighbour can't eat all they're growing, here's your chance to step in and get the kids picking and cooking.
A really quick and easy recipe that most children can help you with is Cheat's Apple Pie. Have the kids roll out some ready-made puff pastry and cut into rough rectangles. Older children can core and peel the apples and slice them thinly. Using a brush, paint some apricot jam you've warmed up in the microwave onto each piece of pastry and then top with the apple slices. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 200°c/Gas Mark 6 on a greased baking tray.
Raspberry Ribstickers
Several types of raspberries crop well into late Autumn - check and see what your nearest Pick Your Own farms are picking at the moment.
Cook a batch of pancakes (use your own batter, or make it super-easy and use Betty Crocker's pancake pouch pre-made batter). Young kids can help with the beating, older kids and teenagers can pour the batter into the pan for you. Mash up a handful of raspberries for each pancake required with some crème fraiche. Once the pancakes are cooked fill them with the raspberry mixture, roll up and dust with icing sugar.
In A Blackberry Jam
Everyone loves blackberry picking - it's messy, sticky, fun and best of all it's free! But what's the best thing to do with the bag loads of berries you bring back home? Why not turn it all into bramble jam and get your kids to design a label each for their own pot. Think how they'll feel in the depths of winter, when they're still spreading their very own jam on toast when they come home from school.
Easy Bramble Jam Recipe
3 lbs blackberries
3 lbs sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
9 fl oz water
Wash the fruit gently and drain. Put fruit and water into a deep, solid-bottomed pot and cook for around 30-60 minutes until the fruit is completely soft. Add the sugar and lemon juice. Stir over a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Bring it back to the boil until the setting point is reached (either 105°C with a jam thermometer or until a spoonful of jam left on a cold saucer wrinkles when you push your finger through it).
Tasty Tip
Betty Crocker's new Fruit Muffin Mixes contain real pieces of blueberry, apple and strawberry - a real treat at Harvest or any other time.
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