Most seasonal guides hand you the whole supermarket. Two thirds of that list was there last month and will still be there next month. So this is only what has changed in October: what's just arrived, what's going, and what to ask for at the counter.
October is when the year turns properly. The sea cools, the orchards give up their late fruit, the game season fills out, and the clocks go back on Sunday 25 October. If you're planning a weekday evening run to a farm shop once it's dark by five, check its opening times before you set off.
From the sea
Mussels are coming into their own. Their season runs from autumn through the winter, when the cold water leaves them firm and plump. Last month they came back; this month they're worth going out of your way for, and native oysters, back since 1 September, are there alongside them.
Hake is the one to ask for. The Marine Conservation Society rates hake caught in UK seas as a Best Choice, and suggests it as an alternative to cod. It's a fish you can buy from a British boat without a second thought. Hake in the Good Fish Guide
Orchard and field
The late apples arrive. Spartan comes in this month, and Cox (from mid-September) and Egremont Russet (from late September) are now in full swing. Discovery and Worcester Pearmain, the early apples, are finished. The Comice pear arrives in October as well, and it's a pear for eating rather than cooking.
Apple Day is on the 21st. Common Ground started it in 1990 to celebrate the variety we're in danger of losing, and by the end of that decade there were more than 600 events a year. If there's an event near you, it's the best way to taste apples you'll never see in a supermarket. Find out more about Apple Day
Quinces are ready, and medlars aren't far behind. Quinces are picked in October and November and they're no good raw, hard and sour even when ripe, but made into quince jelly or paste they're wonderful. The medlar is the last orchard fruit of the year, picked from the end of October and then left to go soft and brown before you eat it. That's called bletting, and yes, it looks exactly like the fruit has gone off. It hasn't. Medlar jelly with cheese or game is the reward.
Buy a pumpkin to eat, not just to carve. Carving pumpkins are grown for size, and millions of them go in the bin every year after Halloween. A good greengrocer or farm shop will have proper eating squash alongside them. Ask for one of those and you'll have soup for a week.
Wild and free
The sloes have come good. Last month we said to leave them. Tradition says to pick them after the first frost, but there's no need to wait: pick them now, freeze them overnight and you get the same effect, because the frost is only there to split the skins. Start a bottle now and it should be ready by Christmas.
Sweet chestnuts are falling, and so are conkers. Only one of them is food. Sweet chestnut cases are covered in fine, hair-like spines and hold two or three teardrop-shaped nuts; conker cases have short, stubby spikes and usually hold one round, glossy conker, which is poisonous. The Woodland Trust has a clear guide to telling them apart. How to tell sweet chestnuts from conkers
Last call for cobnuts. Kentish cobnuts are sold fresh rather than dried, from mid-August through October, so this is the end of it. The shells have turned brown now and the flavour is at its fullest.
Wild mushrooms are still around. As ever, if you don't know exactly what you're picking, don't. A good greengrocer will do the knowing for you.
Game
Pheasant opens on 1 October. Last month we said anyone selling you British wild pheasant in September was selling you something else. From the 1st, it's the real thing, and the season runs until 1 February. A brace from a good butcher or game dealer is one of the best things you can buy all winter.
Woodcock opens on the same day in England and Wales. It's been open in Scotland since September.
In Scotland, red deer hinds and fallow does open on 21 October. England and Wales wait until 1 November. Grouse carries on until 10 December and partridge until 1 February, so a good game dealer's counter fills up fast this month. Full shooting season dates from BASC
In the glass
Green hop beer is here, and it won't be for long. Almost all beer is made with dried hops, which keep for a year. Green hop beer is brewed with hops straight off the bine, most brewers aiming to use them within a day of picking. The British hop harvest runs through September into early October, so these beers only turn up for a few weeks, and they taste of it: fresher, greener and a bit oilier than anything else on the bar. If your local brewery does one, buy it now. It won't be there in November.
October is also the month of the drinks festival, from beer and cider to whisky, and our October festival guide has the lot.
Three questions to ask this month
Ask your butcher when the first pheasant is coming in. Then ask for a brace.
Ask your greengrocer for an eating squash, not a carving pumpkin.
Ask your fishmonger where the hake was landed. Support those local fishing boats
Those three questions will tell you more about a shop than any review ever could. And if you find somewhere that answers them well, add a tip on myfoody so the next person knows too.