apples apples everywhere

[mizkit]

We picked apples on Sunday. This warped panorama does not do justice to the numbers of apples currently residing in our entryway:

Comments

[6_penny]

Do you have a maslin pot to do your jamming in. A couple of years ago I invested in one and it is wonderful for preserves and also things like large batches of soup and stews. Well worth the price.

[mizkit]

I do not! *tries to convince self there's room for another pot on the shelves* :)

[jasondrake]

I made some apple butter in the slow cooker recently. Apple season is yummy and full of joy

[saintswife]

My mom used to have an old time hand crank that attached to the counter and she'd put apples that I think she had boiled through it and it would separate the skin and seeds and core from the resulting applesauce. I found one at a flea market once. Saved lots of time peeling.

[deborahblakehps]

We had a late frost this spring, so very few apples here :-(

[pameladean]

Yikes! So what other ways are there to preserve apples? I wouldn't think they'd freeze very well, but if they would freeze in slices that could be useful. I know they can be dried, but that's a whole different kind of work and requires a whole different set of equipment.

P.

[mizkit]

Freezing works pretty well for apples you're going to cook with anyway. I froze a looooot last year. :) And you can dry them in the oven on a low heat by slicing them thinly and such, but these are VERY SOUR apples and aren't much fun to eat dried, either...!

[pameladean]

Urgh, yes, sour dried apples sound very unappealing. I know you can make pies and so on from dried apples, but I have no idea how they are.

P.

[icedrake]

Depending on the variety, apples can keep in relative cold for *months*. I usually buy 3-4 bushels from the nearby orchard and keep them in the basement (around +5C) until early April, at least. Some are lost and of course there's some moisture loss from the others, but they still work great for cooking, baking, or -- and this is my first pick -- cider.

Apples will give off ethylene as they ripen (which triggers accelerated ripening in other apples as well as a whole range of other fruit). I spaced mine out with some straw, but research just now leads me to think that would only address spoilage due to direct contact and moisture released by already-spoiled apples. I might try some ethylene absorbers (Amazon has them, for instance).