apple this, apple that

What is your favorite apple thing? I have been making lots of 'stuff' from all the apples my trees have over produced this year and some of it is going to be traveling with me this spring. Frozen pie filling, apple sauce, cider, and even some apple butter, and next is the dried apple chips and fruit leather. So now what am I missing? I still have about 20-25 pounds to do something with. So, what am I missing? What is your favorite apple thing?

vanbrat said:

What is your favorite apple thing? I have been making lots of 'stuff' from all the apples my trees have over produced this year and some of it is going to be traveling with me this spring. Frozen pie filling, apple sauce, cider, and even some apple butter, and next is the dried apple chips and fruit leather. So now what am I missing? I still have about 20-25 pounds to do something with. So, what am I missing? What is your favorite apple thing?

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Both types of Cider? Kombucha? Vinegar? 25 lbs of apples should only come out to about 5-8 lbs of dehydrated apple rings...

We would "put-up" jars of Spiced Apples........Escalloped Apples...........CHUNKY applesauce

abnorm said:

We would "put-up" jars of Spiced Apples........Escalloped Apples...........CHUNKY applesauce

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I have not tried spiced apples yet.... I make spiced pear liquor now but maybe now a batch of spiced apples.

Frood said:

Both types of Cider? Kombucha? Vinegar? 25 lbs of apples should only come out to about 5-8 lbs of dehydrated apple rings...

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Now I will look up Kombucha and see if I can do that

Look up a recipe for Southern Fried apples. Note, they are not deep fried. It is a skillet dish made to use as a hot side dish for pork, chicken, etc. perfect for the holidays! It should freeze just fine.

You can also grate apples to add to breads such as muffins or loafs. But as is said, which is very true for nomads with storage space limitations, you can’t take it all with you. Apple muffins and pies would be very unlikely to ever make it into my freezer! They would just get stored as a layer of extra padding on my body.

vanbrat said:

Now I will look up Kombucha and see if I can do that

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The Kombucha will use the apple for flavoring but 25 lbs of apples is enough to flavor maybe 30 - 40 gallons of Kombucha I wonder if you can make fermented apple pickles though...

vanbrat said:

What is your favorite apple thing?

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Apple crisp would be my favorite, but last year I really got into cooking a pile of apples together with a bag of fresh cranberries, for the nutrition the cranberries add and because it just looks festive in the dish.

Add a little brown sugar, orange juice or rind, cook til soft and eat with a good sprinkle of granola on top.

Keeps well in the fridge, and you could can this as you would applesauce, I’m sure.

WanderingRose said:

Apple crisp would be my favorite, but last year I really got into cooking a pile of apples together with a bag of fresh cranberries, for the nutrition the cranberries add and because it just looks festive in the dish.

Add a little brown sugar, orange juice or rind, cook til soft and eat with a good sprinkle of granola on top.

Keeps well in the fridge, and you could can this as you would applesauce, I’m sure.

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sounds good and maybe if the cooked part if it was cooked 2/3 through then frozen it would travel well until zapped for breakfast. With oatmeal and I am learning to make my own granola...

maki2 said:

Look up a recipe for Southern Fried apples. Note, they are not deep fried. It is a skillet dish made to use as a hot side dish for pork, chicken, etc. perfect for the holidays! It should freeze just fine.

You can also grate apples to add to breads such as muffins or loafs. But as is said, which is very true for nomads with storage space limitations, you can’t take it all with you. Apple muffins and pies would be very unlikely to ever make it into my freezer! They would just get stored as a layer of extra padding on my body.

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Apples keep pretty good if kept cool and dry but maybe the grated ones could be frozen to pack and I love just about anything appley. We are having a bonfire tomorrow (if the rain holds off) and I will be fire roasting some. Just poke them on a stick roast slowly until the peeling is starting to crackle off then peel and roll in cinnamon and sugar and return to fire roast until a bit soft and the sugar is cooked to taste. I like mine caramelized and juice is dripping. Eat hot and sticky and drippy. Some people like to also roll in chopped nuts, some just like them plain and roasted...

I like to slice a good HoneyCrisp and dip the slices in caramel sauce, too.

It’s still a fruit, and not too much sugar.

Seems like many youtubes show a variety of meal preps involving apples. And then I saw a holey homedepot 5gal bucket with a carjack used to press juice into a pan. IF only we had that many apples! Love me some fresh juice to use instead of OJ.

Junior Johnson’s Midnight Apple Pie Moonshine should solve most desires! Lol!!!

TravelinTom said:

Seems like many youtubes show a variety of meal preps involving apples. And then I saw a holey homedepot 5gal bucket with a carjack used to press juice into a pan. IF only we had that many apples! Love me some fresh juice to use instead of OJ.

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At my home base in Seattle that was in an industrial building one of the neighbors annually on a fall weekend set up a cider press and held a big gathering. Lots of his friends arrived with pre washed apples. The results were shared with cups of fresh cider plus those who brought lots of apples went home with gallons of the stuff. No telling if they made Apple Jack with it or not. He and his friends did the annual Trek to Burning Man.

He passed on about 5 or so years ago. His widow held a big estate sale in their unit. Quite a lot of the aluminum angle I used to frame the new cabinets in my vintage travel trailer were purchased at that estate sale as well as a fair amount of the wires used for the electrical circuits. All new materials that he had accumulated over the years for his business.

We had our annual big fall cider pressing 2 weeks ago. We had neighbors and folks come with their apples too, we got 50-70 gallons done that day and the following day... Hayrides in little 4+4 wagon thing and lots of kid games, a hay pile treasure hunt and hot dog roasting and hubby is working on mini golf course so that too. Potluck dinner and just fun for all of us. It is a big ol' wooden press, handmade 1/2 by me half by friend's dad. He made first part with no motor. I added the motor 'cause that was just crazy.
There is always someone wanting to know about making apple jack, but I have never had any cider left after about March so no Apple jack it just doesn't last that long...
We have been doing this for 15+ yrs and don't know how much longer we can do it. It is a lot of work. The teens that have been coming for years now run the press (with supervision) and we have 2nd generation kidos now coming. It has been good for kids to see it go from tree to bucket to press to cup..
I now have 5-6 gallons in my freezer one for a work dinner hot and spicy in the crock pot, one for Thanksgiving, one for my son and one for his in laws, one for my mom, one for Christmas dinner.
But still think if I could only do one thing with apples it would be applesauce. I love homemade apple sauce. and I prefer freezing it over canning. Canning is fine if you don't have a freezer but if possible, I like frozen. It changes it just a bit and it is smoother and creamy almost. It is my go-to food if I am sick sometimes the only thing I can eat. I always pack a bag for when we are traveling maybe 2-3.

With what we are dealing with, with hubby and his cancer my kids have been teasing each other about who gets stuck clearing out his junk and no they didn't start that joke he did as in "if I die you two get to clean out this s#$%t. So be nice or I will add more". But to be sure there would be one heck of a garage sale here.

vanbrat said:

What is your favorite apple thing? I have been making lots of 'stuff' from all the apples my trees have over produced this year and some of it is going to be traveling with me this spring. Frozen pie filling, apple sauce, cider, and even some apple butter, and next is the dried apple chips and fruit leather. So now what am I missing? I still have about 20-25 pounds to do something with. So, what am I missing? What is your favorite apple thing?

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I love freeze dried apple slices but they are so expensive to buy. I also like dried apple slices or dried apple chucks. I plan on trying to dry them my self one day after I get settled and moved. I am in the beginning stages of building a tiny house.

Speaking of apples: What is the difference between apple cider and apple juice? Does anyone know?

Onyons said:

Speaking of apples: What is the difference between apple cider and apple juice? Does anyone know?

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The letters j.u.i.c.e and c.i.d.e.r.

Though the 'cider' we make is very much unfiltered beyond the first filtering getting the chunks out on the way to the jugs. and most of the stuff you buy in the store is very much filtered and pasteurized but the stuff from my yard is not. I always warn everyone of that and tell them to either drink it today or freeze it today or heat it for more than 15 minutes at a light simmer. If you read the labels of juice and cider they are the same. but they often charge more for cider.... it's marketing.

A lot of apples are grown where I live. Down below where I live is the Rome township of Lawrence County Ohio which was up until the end of the Korean conflict the fruit growing capital of the state of Ohio. A few miles below me is where the very first Rome or Rome Beauty apple was first grown. On up river at the panhandle of West Virginia is where the Golden Delicious Apple was first produced. And both of these are favorites of mine.

Here is a bit about the Rome Beauty Apple:

Rome Beauty Apple

What I enjoy most this time of year on frosty mornings are stewed Golden Delicious apples to go with breakfast. They are easy to do and canned apples can be used when in camp if you aren't where you can get apples fresh.

One large Golden Delicious Apple
A tablespoon of corn starch and 1/3 C water.
1/2 C apple juice (you can substitute juice from canned apples with some water)
1/2 tsp (to taste) Cinnamon
1/4 tsp (to taste) Nutmeg
Dash of salt
1 tsp butter or margarine
2 tsp Bourbon whiskey (also an invention of this area from eastern Kentucky)

If using fresh apples you'll need to peel them and stew them in apple juice until tender. Canned apples no problem.

Heat apples in sauce pan with butter, sugar, and adding apple juice (or juice from can) slowly until bubbling. Stir in seasonings and incorporate.

Mix cornstarch with water and have the measure of Bourbon ready.

Add cornstarch mixture to hot apples and stir to thicken and immediately add the Bourbon and continue to stir until thick. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

This will keep rather well as the sugar helps to preserve it.

I use the "Beam's Eight Star" blended Bourbon for this as it has a smooth quality that works quite well in this recipe. I buy it in 1/2 pint size and use it like a flavoring extract.

Onyons said:

Speaking of apples: What is the difference between apple cider and apple juice? Does anyone know?

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Nowadays all you need to do to get those types of answers is to put the query into a your web browser and an AI will give you the answer generally with a reasonably accurate return of information. I am that posting result.
I myself prefer cider if am making a hot drink with it as to me there is a deeper bodied flavor that compliments the strong spices and possibly the additional adult beverage added to it.

But the AI response gets muddled up by labels that product makers stick on the grocery store items. Because you can buy bottled apple cider which could never be considered “fresh” or unprocessed although it is made with less steps of filtration versus apple juice. So if you were in the bottled juice aisle section of the grocery store I would think that the only difference between the Apple juice and the apple cider is the juice has been through more filtration so that it looks very clear.

Apple cobbler!