Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

It's apple season!

Pic courtesy of 2CookinMamas
I have two huge apple trees on my new property here in Roslyn, WA. One that bears sweet, eating apples and one that bears more tart, baking apples. In spite of cutting the trees down considerably before I moved in (so I could comfortably walk around the yard without whacking my brains out), they are still very prolific producers of apples.

So, what have I been doing with all those apples (besides just eating them) since I moved in at the beginning of October? Not enough to keep up!!

Apples in the dehydrator
1. Dehydrating - The first batch that went into the dehydrator was from the tart tree. I did toss the apple slices with a little sugar and a lot of cinnamon. Those dried apples lasted about a week due to my 17-year-old's voracious appetite, so today I'm doing round two. This time I'm drying a mix of the sweet variety and the tart ones as well. I also threw in some pears while I have it running.

2. Roasting - I've been roasting the tart apples alongside onions, sweet potatoes, carrots and a variety of meats like chicken and beer soaked brats (Oktoberfest!). I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of roasted apples, but I'm sure I'll keep trying. I think next time I'll add them later in the roasting time so they are not as squishy.

3. Canning - Next week I'll be making and canning apple butter in the slow cooker. I haven't done it yet because I haven't yet had the gumption to peel, core and cut 6+ pounds of apples.

4. Baking - In an effort to use up some apples, I embarked on making an apple cake last week. It didn't use up as many apples as I would have liked, but it was very good nonetheless! I'm planning on baking a Dutch Apple Pie this Friday, which I'm looking forward to!

Apples!
5. Squeezing - Okay, I know cider pressing isn't like orange juicing, but we're going to have a big cider pressing party here in the new week or two. We're not big into drinking apple juice or cider, but I am planning on making apple pie moonshine with the results of the cider pressing. I'll be reporting on the success of that project. Word on the street is that it's fairly potent stuff.

6. Finishing of the hogs - My friends (and ex-next-door-neighbors from Seattle) now own a small farm in Ellensburg. Among their many animals are four pigs that they are finishing on apples and other fruits. They've been making a weekly trip to come and grab all the dropped fruit from my yard, my next door neighbor and my boyfriend's apple trees. In exchange, I've been getting eggs from their chickens. There seems to be an imbalance in this deal, but I'm not going to point it out!

What's your favorite way to use apples?

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Applesauce. Seems boring, but with fresh apples, yummy. We bought a box in Pullman years ago and I just cut, cored and cooked the apples. Then put them through my old fashioned sieve and added sugar as needed. I don't think any, depending on the type of apple. We ate bowls and bowls of it. And my ex-ther-in-law used to put those tiny. red hearts in applesauce. So sweet!!

Crunchy Chicken said...

I used to can a ton of applesauce, but no one really ate it. Which is why I'm going the apple butter route this year. I know at least one person who likes it (my boyfriend)! The tiny red hearts - are they the cinnamon ones? I think I've seen recipes for it. Sounds tasty! And almost worth giving it a whirl, although I'd probably just crock pot it and not can it. I can't imagine it would last long :)

SurprisingWoman said...

I have done the slow cooker apple butter and it works a treat.

I also like to make apple pie filling with clear jel. There are so many ways to use that during the year.

Crunchy Chicken said...

I've done the apple pie filling as well. Thanks for the reminder!

Delora said...

If you have an old fashioned food mill, you can just throw the quartered apples into the crock pot seeds, peels and all. Once they're all mushy, run through the mill and then continue to cook down to the consistency you like.

Unknown said...

Chris made the Easy One Bowl Apple Cake today - easy and delicious!

Crunchy Chicken said...

Nice work @Chris!