A Full Serving of Fruit…and Nuts.
Feel that nip in the air? Not yet? Well, wait a week or two and you’ll be reaching for your favorite sweater and raking piles of leaves from the lawn. Now that summer’s blooms have had their day and the abundance of autumn weighs in, why not steal a bit from the groaning board to mark the season? A laden branch is a beautiful thing. Consider these delicious options…Pomegranates: Stuff of myth, the pomegranate so tempted Persephone that she ate a bit of one and caused her annual banishment to Hades’ dark underworld for six months each year. It’s easy to see why – this ruby fruit is beautiful inside and out. Whether in a decorative spray or individually worked into an arrangement, this ancient fertility symbol is fall personified.Pears: Not just for partridges to perch on, a branch of blushing miniature pears brings a mouthwatering note to any grouping of seasonal flora. Fill a large glass cylinder with fat green Bartletts and tuck in tall sticks of cinnamon – it will be hard not to reach for one to eat. When you’re tired of the arrangement – simply add red wine, sugar, and poach till tender!Persimmons: Whether heaped in a rough stoneware bowl or still on the stem, it’s easy to see why these glossy orange fruit are such a popular subject in Asian art. They glow as if lit from within, and their curious calyxes look carved from jade. Pair them with bright 
leaves and gnarled branches for a sculptural combo. Later, the slow-ripening fruit will make delicious muffins…Quince: Looking like a cross between a pear and an apple, this hard, gnarly specimen is thought to be the true fruit that lead to the Original Sin. Whether biblical fact or fiction, its sweet, heady scent alone is enough to lead one astray. Pile them in a Limoges tureen with walnuts in the shell or place a branch with leaves and fruit on the mantel. Now, take a deep breath; it’s autumn in Paradise.Other fruits on the vine that look great in the vase are figs – like the photo here from House Beautiful’s September 2007 issue – bittersweet, snow in summer, lady apples and baby pumpkins. We love pretty.
