Our local apple orchard has windfall apples free for the taking. What options are there for using these apples in recipes and does anyone have recipes for these apples?
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Some people prepare the filling for apple pies, and then freeze it for making pies later; you could make a supply of apple butter, apple sauce, apple juice. Or just peel, slice, and freeze the apples for something you might want to make later. Or you could gather up apples that are past their prime and put them on your compost pile.
Sandy,
I'm originally from an area close to you.
Just search the internet and see how many recipes there are for applesauce. I used to have a large family and went to old homesteads to find apples. So easy really to make and 'can' applesauce.Just cut out any spoiled or bruised spots in apples, slowly cook in large saucepan, then put through calendar, then freeze or easier still, can in pints jars for use later in recipes.
I also used to dry apple chips, great for healthy snakes in lunches.As mentioned before, peel, slice, season as you would for an apple pie, then line pie plate with tin foil.Place in freezer, when solid, remove ,put in a zip lock bag and instant pie filling for a winter apple pie.
I envy your access to 'free' apples. In this time of making ends meet, we need to go back to the 'good ol' days' and remember how it was and how we made do with the bounty we had access too.
Stay warm up north! I'm in the deep south now and miss the winters, how typical huh! HA
What are windfall apples?
Nature's way of thinning fruit so it doesn't break the trees is that some of it falls off when the wind blows. These are not ripe yet, which is probably the reason for the question of what to do with them. My tree is very tart when ripe, so the green ones are definitely not suitable for something where you would want sweet apples.
An apple's an apple, so whatever recipes you would normally use, just make them as sweet as necessary and of course cut out bad spots when paring them.
APPLE DAPPLE CAKE
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 1/3 c. cooking oil
3 c. flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
3 c. apples, chopped
1 c. nuts
Mix ingredients thoroughly, folding in apples and nuts last. Turn into greased and floured pan (9 x 13 inches). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cool, cut into squares.
APPLE DAPPLE CAKE GLAZE:
1/2 stick butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. light brown sugar
2 tbsp. milk
Combine all ingredients into a boiler. Boil for 1 minute. Spread on hot cake.
After my wife makes apple pie filling {which she cans and not freezes} she cooks down the peels and the cores and makes great apple jelly, after running it thru a food mill. This she also cans. We have opened some of the canning she did back in '99 and they have all been great. Needless to say we have a bit of canned goods to use at times like this.
Do various searches on different recipes such as: apple brown betty, apple cobbler, apple cake, apple dumplings, etc.
I have several trees that have given us loads of apples this year - I have given them away, made applesauce, just sliced them - sprinkled lemon juice on them and frozen in ziplock bags for pies or apple crisp, made fried apples. Here is my recipe for apple crisp.
Put apples in baking dish, sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine dry ingredients, add melted butter, mix till crumbly. Sprinkle crumb mix
over apples. Bake @ 375 for 30 in, till apples are tender.
I have picked up buckets of windfalls, just cutting out the spots and using the wonderful fruit inside! To make fried apples, I just wash and slice the apples (coring them), put in saucepan, cook with bit of water and sprinkle a dash of salt till almost tender, then put in a TBSP of butter, and 1/4 c sugar (or sweetener, if desired), and cook down. Leaving the peeling on gives you added vitamins and it is a wonderful addition to any meal!
Make applesauce!
What about making apple butter in your crockpot, and giving them as Christmas gifts. Make sure you follow directions for the proper amount of time in the water bath.
Mary, Langhorne, PA
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