Crabapple

The jelly is the point: pectin high enough to set without any commercial help.

Sharper than apple sauce and it cuts crackling fat without sweetening the plate.

The sharp varieties go into the press for exactly this acid and tannin.

Eugenol over a hard green acid; it is the whole flavour of a spiced crabapple jelly.

Lactic salt against savage malic acid; the cheese is the sugar in this pairing.

Rosemary resin in the jelly gives roast lamb an acid that tastes deliberate, not sour.

Tart jelly against iron; it does the redcurrant job with more astringency and less sugar.

Same hedge, same week. The berry supplies colour and sugar, the crab supplies set.

A very fatty bird needs an acid that will not surrender halfway. This is that acid.

Hedgerow resin and hedgerow acid; the jelly ends up tasting like a game sauce.

Pressed juice on brine; it does the mignonette job with fruit acid instead of vinegar.

Koji salt and sweetness make astringency read as seasoning rather than a punishment.