True crab apples are slightly different to the little wild apples, known as ‘wildings’, that grow in and around our hedgerows and along our roadsides. Proper crab apples are actually very small, like big cherries – big, very sour cherries. I’ve found an ancient tree on the grounds of an old estate not far from where I live. When its twisted, mossy limbs are laden with these miniature yellow apples, I’ll casually scrump a bag or two. This sits perfectly easily with my conscience, as no one else seems to want them! The last time I gathered a haul, I was so enamoured with these cute little fruits, I was determined to eat them whole and in their entirety. I cooked them to bursting in plenty of brown sugar and butter. It wrapped around them like a long-lost lover, and I ate the fruit from the stalk until it was all gone.