Generally speaking the tomato is a red, spherical vegetable fruit, with soft red flesh and multiple seeds held in a jelly like substance. There are varieties in all the colours from yellow to purple or almost black, and varying in size from "cherry" tomatoes at the size of a marble through to huge beefsteak tomatoes which can weigh as much as 500g (1 lb) for a single fruit. Various plum varieties of tomato, literally plum shaped, and particularly Italian ones, are valued for their use in cuisine. Tomatoes are hugely versatile, being a useful raw addition to salads, both for their colour and flavour, and as an ingredient in cooking rich sauces. It is astonishing to think that the tomato is such a recent addition to the cuisine of Europe having been brought from South America by the Spanish during the 16th Century.

A name for Golden Spire, a variety of soft, yellow cooking apple used in Gloucestershire for making cider under the name of Tom Matthews, as it has a high juice content. It was found around 1850 in Lancashire and introduced commercially by Richard Smith at a nursery in Worcester. It is almost rectangular in shape. It cooks down to a yellow purée. This mid-season variety is harvested from early September in South-East England and has poor keeping properties.

An old variety of English cooking apple heavily flushed with red, not readily available. It was raised by Thomas Putt, rector at Trent which used to be in Somerset but is now in Dorset some time in the late 18th Century. It was a great apple for cider-making and grown widely in the West Country for that purpose. This mid-season variety is harvested from early October in South-East England and is at its best from October to December.