Monday, September 2, 2013

Life givin' you apples?

In our lovely yard, we have two HUGE apple trees.  One isn't as alive as the other, and neither produced any apples last year with the silly weather we had... but this year, the bigger of the two trees has been dropping them like crazy!  It was fine when they were still small, and Poka could pick them up for us.  However, as the summer continues, they're starting to get too big for her and become dangerous missiles as well!

Today we went out to rescue some of the bigger ones before they hit the ground, and to make them into applesauce.  Let's see, shall we?

We first went out to gather them all, needing not only a ladder, but some apple-grabbers as well.  The tree really is huge.  Once we had gathered enough, in we came to get cookin'.  We had to find a recipe that was a bit more than apples and sugar, since I can't have cinnamon, so we used this one - and put in raisins instead of the cinnamon stick.


BIG tree
Atop the 6' ladder
Getting the higher ones
mmmMacintosh harvest













Peel and cut
Our helper, Pokaroo
Cuisinart beauty
All ingredients in













Boiling x 25mins
Finit!
Success   :-)
It actually tastes good!












The recipe we used says it freezes great, so hopefully they're right.  We have a lot of apples to use up out there - as long as we can get to them before they hit the ground.  I've got some adjustments I'm going to make to the recipe next time... but I can't wait for this batch to cool for dessert tonight!

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4 comments:

  1. Well done, and good pic of Poka licking the spoon. Surprised that the tree produces full sized apples - crazy!

    Had you thought of cutting up and freezing more of the apples to use in crisp, etc. through the winter? Not sure how they taste but I'm sure if they are tart and need sweetening up there are a number of ways to accomplish that.

    FYI our little apple tree is shoulder height this year. Yes, shoulder height, after starting the season out at about 16" tall. Apples next year? Maybe not, but it's still exciting.

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    Replies
    1. I'm not sure if the tree will always make full sized apples - I can't recall that it ever has before. BUT, we haven't had normal winters/summers except for 2013. I hope that your tree turns into more than just a tall stick, lol. Watch for flowers in the spring!!

      The apples are macintosh lovelies - some a little icky inside, but others clear and white. We put two of them into an apple salad for the week, and have four left . . . . until we go out there again and gather more! I'll have to find a good apple crisp recipe without cinnamon in it :)

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  2. We can do apple-picking at your place before Thanksgiving! Nice that you're able to actually make something of them this year.

    Check your recipe book that I made you for an apple crisp recipe. If it isn't there, I can give it to you and you can just leave out the cinnamon. Try using nutmeg instead. You might have to tweak the amounts.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, I have the recipe :)

      I think by the time Thanksgiving is here, we're going to be all apple-picked. The trees are so tall that it's hard to get the ones off the top!

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