Apples: other uses

You can store the apples in a cool dry place – you can wrap them individually in newspaper, or ask at your local veg shop for those nice shapped separators that commercial apples are shipped in. The important part with storage is thaqt the apples be perfect, and not touch . You’ve heard the old saying, it only takes one bad apple to ruin the bunch.

One of the best uses of Apples which I have yet to try is juicing. I know that seed savers have a day when you can bring you apples to be juiced – I’ll find out a bit more about this and post separately. Also Cider is a possibility – might get a chance to try this next year if I can find someone to donate apples.

For your not so perfect apples – feed the birds! You can thread some string through an apple ort 5, and hang them from branches of a tree – or your hanging basket bracket, and watch your feathered friends enjoy.

And if you still habe some left after all these suggestions, there’s always the compost heap. They will rot well, and provide great nutrients for your garden next year….

Apple Chutney

Apples make a great Chutney. I merged a couple of recipes I found on my book collection and one the net. I'll make accurate measurement and post a recipe later.

And according to my supplier of Apples, who is a big Chutney fan, it was a success.

Definitely add some chilli peppers to give it some zing – but be careful when handling the chillis – don’t wipe your eye without carefully washing your hands. Also be careful what kind of Chilli you use, the Habaneros go a Looong way. 1 chilli flawoured 17 jars of chutney!

Apple Harvest- Sweet

If you’re lucky enough to have had a great Apple crop, and you’re wondering about what to do with all of them, here are a few ideas.

My favourite apple dishes are apple cake and apple crumble. For the apple cake, I make large quantities, and I bake them in the little foil containers that Chinese food comes in. This way you can cover and freeze, and pop in the oven. Particularly good if you have unexpected guests.

I cut up the apples, and cover the base of the pan/foil dish. I sprinkle a bit of sugar over the apples, depending on whether they were cooking of eating apples – a lot or a little. Sometimes it’s nice to use a dark brown sugar. You could also sprinkle some cinnamon or ground allspice over the apples. Preheat your over to about 150-170C. Make a typical butter sponge mix – you can find a recipe on the net. Add a little milk to the mix to make it runny. Pour over the apples and place in the oven. Bake till brown on top and a knife or skewer comes out clean.

As for the crumble, I like to peel, and chop the apples, and toss them into a ziplock bag, and freeze them. I also make a large quantity of Crumble topping. Then if I need a tasty dessert in a hurry, it’s very easy to assemble a delicious crumble which will defrost and cook in a jiffy. These chopped and frozen apples can also be used to make apple sauce, apple tart, or if you run out of chutney, there’s no reason why you can’t work with frozen apples to make more.