Your essential guide to autumn’s best fruit & vegetables

Pumpkins boast a mild, creamy taste with a distinctive hint of nuttiness and can be blitzed, baked or grilled. Look for smooth, blemish-free skin and give the vegetable a knock with your knuckle: a healthy pumpkin will produce a solid sound, like a wooden door. 

Top tip: When pumpkin is roasted, the skin, flesh and seeds can be eaten, meaning nothing goes to waste.

So many recipes start with onion, and autumn is the optimal time of year to make the most of this bountable bulb. Whether pickled, fried, caramelised or enjoyed raw, onion can be enjoyed in so many ways. Brown onions are a pantry staple due to their stronger flavour that’s ideal for cooking. White onions are slightly sweeter and milder in taste and can be cooked or served raw. Similarly, red onions are mild, sweet and juicy, and can be eaten raw or pickled.

Top tip: Too many onions? Save time and reduce waste by chopping and sealing onions in an airtight container. Store in the freezer to conveniently add to your future soups, stews and pasta sauces.

With their signature tartness, Australian raspberries are unbeatable served fresh, but they’re also marvellous in a crumble, muffins or summer pudding. However you serve them, make sure you eat them a couple of days after purchase when they’re at their best. If you leave them too long, simply cook them briefly with sugar and a little lemon zest for a sauce to serve with something sweet.

Top tip: Store raspberries (and other berries) in the fridge unwashed in a covered dish lined with a paper towel.

There’s a variety of apples to choose from this season, from rosy Pink Lady and Royal Gala to Jazz, Envy, Kanzi and crisp, green Granny Smith. But don’t just stop at popping a fresh one into the lunch box for a healthier snack – apples are incredibly versatile in cooking, too.

They’re fabulous in a quick chicken, apple & avocado salad; baked into tarts and crumbles; spiced up into chutneys; or served beautifully alongside pork. Look for unblemished fruit and store your apples in the fridge, which will keep them crisp and fresh.

Top tip: When preparing apples for a recipe, toss the slices in a little lemon juice or submerge them in a bowl of cold water mixed with a generous squeeze of lemon juice (known as “acidulated water”) to prevent them from oxidising and going brown.

Cut off the stalk, remove the seeds and get stuck into these sweet, juicy and refreshing veggies. Capsicums are delicious roasted, stuffed, grilled or even turned into a dip. Look for capsicums that are firm and glossy with a uniform colour. Store them in the crisper drawer of your fridge for ultimate freshness.

Did you know? All capsicums start off green and turn red, orange or yellow as they ripen and will stop ripening once harvested and then remain the same colour.

When choosing lemons, select ones that are vibrant in colour, firm and feel heavy for their size with a pleasant citrus scent. Lemons are great for adding a zesty burst of flavour to pasta bakes, drizzled over fish or even sliced in a refreshing drink.

Top tip: Look for firm lemons with glossy, unblemished skin and a rich yellow colour.

Distinguished by its coarse, ruffled leaves, cabbage is a leafy vegetable suited to be curried, sautéed, blanched, pickled or fermented to make sauerkraut. Raw cabbage leaves can also be used instead of flour tortillas or wraps. Varieties include savoy, wombok, red and green cabbage.

Did you know? Cabbage belongs to the brassica or cruciferous family, alongside broccoli, broccolini, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale and Asian greens.

Unlike the Hass avocado, the Shepard’s smooth skin stays green when ripe but its firm flesh is just as rich and buttery with a nuttier flavour. For a simple snack or starter, halve the avocado lengthways, remove the stone, fill the indent with vinaigrette dressing and eat the flesh with a spoon. Slice or mash avocado for sandwiches, to enjoy on crackers or toast, or to add to a creamy contrast to crunchy veggies and toasted seeds in salads. Store avocados at room temperature on the kitchen bench to ripen. Once ripe, pop them in the fridge for up to three days. Unlike their counterparts, Shepard Avocados don't go brown when cut; perfect for salads and wraps. 

Top tip: Buy a few, use ripened avocados first and leave firmer ones to ripen over time and consume later in the week.

While well known for its use in Southeast Asian recipes – think Thai or Vietnamese salads, stir-fries and curries – this soft herb is popular in Middle Eastern, Indian, Mexican and Spanish cooking, too. With its slightly citrussy, peppery flavour and scent, coriander adds zing to vegetable, seafood, chicken, lamb, beef and pork dishes. Look for unblemished, firm leaves and stalks when selecting your bunch, then store it wrapped unwashed in a paper towel in a reusable bag or container in the fridge. (Wash when you’re ready to eat, to avoid any dirt particles in the herbs! ) And use those stalks, too – chop them finely and add to salads for extra crunch and flavour.

Top tip: To avoid losing its distinctive flavour, coriander is best used fresh or added to cooked food just before serving.