I first stumbled upon crab apples while wandering round a market in London. I saw trays of these lovely small apples that people were ignoring and I couldn’t understand why. When I tasted them, I discovered they have a very strong, sharp, bitter taste. While I was trying to invent a dish to go with Kentish pudding pie, I thought these apples would be ideal, as their sharpness cuts through the sweetness of the dessert. Roasting them in sugar, plenty of butter and spices works very well. The secret with crab apples is you only need to roast them for about 5 minutes, otherwise they turn to purée.