Yea! How cool to have that many established trees. I just picked boxes and boxes of apples and here's what I am doing: dried apples- I use a homemade solar drier but the plug in ones or even stringing up apple rings works. I have a hand apple peeler that makes quick work of peeling and slicing. You can find them at hardware stores or order it here. I am also canning applesauce, and apples in syrup that I can use for pies and crumbles this winter. I am pressing the apples for sweet and hard cider. I do my biggest harvest in late October and then keep the unblemished apples at 40 degrees and they last for months. HTHs!
I'm green with envy! Our nascent orchard only produces a few apples per tree right now so we're going to a nearby orchard to pick bushels and bushels for applesauce and apple butter. Apple peelers are great. My toddler is obsessed with ours!
You can also peel, slice and freeze for baking into pies, cakes, etc.
We're a few years away from our own apples, but so looking forward to it!
I think I'll have to get a peeler when the day comes. All the canning and freezing involves so much work with knives, and my arthritic hands are feeling it just from nipping and slicing vegetables.
My kids also love the dried apples--and better yet, pears! We dip in lemon/sugar solution and use a dehydrator.
Do you like apple crisp/ I find this one of the easiest apple desserts (breakfast on some days) to prepare and freeze. I get disposable aluminum pans to store the crisps in in the freezer.
We've had apples, pears, peaches and plums this years so far! The birds always get the cherries.
mmm, lucky you! Now I'm dreaming of apple jelly, applesauce and apple butter. You can also slice them and dehydrate them or freeze them in batches for making apple desserts.
We have a small tree in our backyard that was loaded with apples( we harvested on Sunday
)
I ended up making crockpot applesauce, freezing a bunch, and have a bowlful on the cupboard for eating. They weren't very big, though some were fistsized. They're small enough to be perfect for the kids.
My nieghbor has 2 trees and is giving us unlimited free apples.
I am drying some for snacks- we have an apple-corer-peeler-slicer (a pampered chef gadget but they sell them a BB&B, etc) that makes drying apples so fast and easy.
I am also hoping to can 50 quarts of applesauce but that is probably overly optimistic since i work FT. We eat about a quart of sauce a week though, and I would love to not have to buy any this year.
ETA: when I make saue I just cook the whole apples, then run them throught the food mill. No peeling, etc.
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