Thursday, October 20, 2011

Apples To Apples

So, after the orchard, we had 60 lbs of apples.  And because of Little Miss I've been super careful about washing every apple I eat with baking soda and hot water, which is a pain, so I've eaten fewer apples plain like I normally would.  Which leaves a lot of apples to have something done with them!

I decided I was going to try my hand at this whole canning thing, since last year it didn't go so well.  I don't think I processed the kumquats long enough and refused to eat them, and the apple butter I made last year (what little G didn't immediately eat) we simply kept in the fridge.  I was armed with the book "Put Em Up" and I was ready to rock this thing. 
So far I've made 7 half pints of apple butter and 7 pints of applesauce, each with a little left over for the fridge.  And other than one jar of applesauce (that I made this afternoon) that I don't think is going to seal right (all the others already have), they all came out beautifully.  I've only used about 15/20 lbs of apples though, so I'm planning to keep on going with this so we're stocked up for the year.

Because, you see, we try really hard to eat seasonally.  So that means that I only eat apples this time of year.  And I love apples.  By canning apple sauce, apple butter, and apple preserves and also making plenty of dried apples, we can enjoy them throughout the year.  I'm still trying to figure out how to successfully freeze an apple pie, and then life will be perfect!

4 comments:

  1. I've never heard of washing apples with water and baking soda? How does it work? Is it to get all the chemicals off the skin?

    I love apple butter! Too bad it doesn't exist over here :(

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  2. Crystal, the baking soda helps get the outside crud off. Works great with waxed apples from the store, but I use it to really scour the ones we picked. If I'm being even more ocd, I'll get them wet, scrub them with baking soda and then spray them with my bottle of vinegar---essentially making a homemade fruit wash.

    And if you'd like to know how to make apple butter, you can make a jar at a time to keep in the refrigerator!

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  3. I know this is a really old post so you probably won't read the comments, but just in case - I've had pretty good luck with freezing apple pie filling, to use later in the year - what I tend to do is use half the amount of sweetener that I usually would. Thaw the filling very well - it'll be a bit watery. Then gently heat it and add the rest of the sweetener, as if your 'finishing off' cooking it... I find it maintains a much better consistency and flavor than attempting to freeze it straight :)

    Just my thoughts!

    Best wishes

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