Anyone have apple trees?

[Jeff Monson]

We recently bought a different house and in the backyard there are 2 apple trees, It's harvest time and I had NO clue how many apples were on those trees, I picked all day today and have filled bags, boxes and plastic totes with apples!!! and I still have 1/2 tree to go.

The apples are very good right off the tree they are green and red, we have cored and peeled a few boxes but I'm still up to my neck in apples so what do others do to use them, I plan on giving alot away and the small and bruised ones will make their way to my deerstand.

Any input what other uses would be appreciated.

[Lee Schierer]

Buy or make a cider press. You can squeeze out lots of cider, fill old milk jugs about 3/4 full and freeze them. Then you will have cider year round. Make sure you wash the apples before making cider, particularly if they have been on the ground. We make it a family day when we do it so it doesn't become a huge chore for any one person and everyone splits the juice.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

I wish you were closer, I'd take some of them off your hands. :) just picked up a press, and I need to find some locals that will give me a good deal on some apples...

+1 on buying/building a press

[Jeff Monson]

Buy or make a cider press. You can squeeze out lots of cider, fill old milk jugs about 3/4 full and freeze them. Then you will have cider year round. Make sure you wash the apples before making cider, particularly if they have been on the ground. We make it a family day when we do it so it doesn't become a huge chore for any one person and everyone splits the juice.

That sounds really good, any pics or ideas on a press?? and I'm assuming you dont peel the apples?

[Michael Wetzel]

http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/applejack.htm

[Joe Pelonio]

Besides pie there's nothing like homemade applesauce. Just peel, cut into quarters or less, add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, and some cinnamon. Simmer on low about an hour and then taste. If needed add some sugar to taste, and mash to desired "lumpiness." Serve some while still warm on vanilla ice cream.

[Brian Brown]

Get a food dehydrator. Cut the apples into slices and dry them into apple chips. I also vote for applesauce. My wife makes apple pie filling that is delicious.

[Howard Lacheen]

Apple Jelly is great as is apple butter.

[phil harold]

we make apple butter every year

we also have friends come pick the apples for free

[Heather Thompson]

Plus one on applesauce, when I was little there was an abandoned orchard across the street from our house, concord grapes, pears and apples. I would take my wagon with five gallon plastic buckets and climb the trees where the big kids could not get to, best apples.:D I used a bent coat hanger as a hook to reach the nicest apples and snag them. My mom and I would peel and core for hours, then we would make the best applesauce and pies, sure do miss those days.

Heather

[Brent Leonard]

I feel your pain. I too get to experience the "apples out of my rear" problem.

I C-list free apples once I have taken all the apples I want.

I dont care to purchase all sorts of apple presses and stuff for cider and juice. We only have a peeler/slicer that works quite well. We spend a day every couple weeks or so cleaning, peeling and slicing, putting just enough apples for a single pie into a gallon ziplock and freeze it. We also have put all the ingredients for the pie into the bag too, prior to freezing (all you do is dump contents into a pie crust, bake and, viola! nearly instant apple pie). Now I prefer a dfifferent recipe and just freeze the apples (make your own caramel and pour the hot caramel over and into the pie, then bake)

You can also bag them and take to the local homeless shelter or your church. You will be throwing plenty of apples away. No way around it in my opinion.

[David G Baker]

This year has been a very good year for apples in my area of Michigan. I have 4 apple trees with a lot of fruit on them but haven't been able to get a healthy crop out of any of the trees. I have tried spraying the trees with spray recommended by a local nursery but still end up with buggy apples. Most of the trees produce a pithy tasting fruit, I think the trees need some minerals or fertilizer. The deer sure do love the apples. The trees are quite old and are pretty much falling apart but they sure do have a lot of character. One is almost hollow, another is loosing a lot of its bark and the other two have that "on their last legs" look.

[Von Bickley]

When we were growing up at home, Mama would peel and slice up apples. On sunny days, she would spread them outside on a white sheet and let them dry.

Homemade dried apple pies are hard to beat. Wish I had one right now. :D

[Robert Parrish]

No apples but I have plenty of oranges, grapefruits and limes to trade!

[Doug Shepard]

When I was a kid there was a farm at the end of the street that was the last remnant of the one that turned into the entire subdivision. The guy had chickens, sheep, goats, and 4-5 horses. Us kids would stuff our pockets with apples in the fall and stop to treat the horses on the way to school. Mom was never big on the canning or homemade pies so most of them went to relatives who took them to deer blinds but the horses got treated well for several weeks every fall.

[Rick Moyer]

Can't help you, but youy reminde me of the pear tree that was at my parent's house when I was younger. It would get loaded with pears that were between golf ball and baseball sized, but they were very woody and didn't have much flavor. We generally just wheelbarrowed them down to the field behind the house, or took some of them to the cabin for the deer. Anyway, one particular year I decided to see how many wheelbarrow loads I took away from that tree...17 loads!! Too bad they weren't good for much.

[Scott Hildenbrand]

We do apple sauce, apple butter, apple jelly with the peals and cores from making apple sauce. Nothing is wasted.

I'd have built a press this year, but it was a bad year for our trees so we got squat.

For grinding a mash, pick up a garbage disposal and mount it in a frame. Run a bunch of apples through to purge it of any metal chips or whatnot and then rinse out.. Then it's ready to go... Run your apples through it first.. You will get dang near every drop of juice out of it in your press and be left with a hard cake, which goes to the compost pile to feed the garden.

Waste not, want not.

We also have a helical slicer that we run apples through and then add everything needed for an apple pie with it into a quart bag.. Feel like a pie? Take a pack out and thaw it a tad.. Toss it in a shell and throw it in the oven.. Poof.. Open face apple pie... Or, add a shell on top for a closed face pie.

Then you can do the 1x5 cobbler recipe, though we like two cups of fruit instead..

1 stick butter
1 cup milk
1 cup fruit
1 cup sugar
1 cup self rising flour

Melt the butter in a 12x12 pan.. Mix the sugar, flower and milk in a bowl and then pour into the melted butter... Add fruit and bake at 350 for an hour.

A little cinnamon is good for apple recipes.. We do the above recipe with blueberries, blackberries and such as well. Great stuff and easy as can be.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

I just doesn't get much better than homemade applesauce and apple pie.

[Denny Rice]

My wife and I just finished canning for our garden this fall. One of the things we like and we do not have is apples, but we are lucky we are less than 10 miles from a world class orchard that has just about everything and every kind of apple. We have been going there for years, and the owner will allow my wife and I to pick our own apples from his orchard for 10.00 a bushel. We picked 2 1/2 bushes this year (we put up close to 70 quarts of apples.) Nothing better than gravy and biscuts for breakfast with fried apples on the side!

[phil harold]

This year has been a very good year for apples in my area of Michigan. I have 4 apple trees with a lot of fruit on them but haven't been able to get a healthy crop out of any of the trees. I have tried spraying the trees with spray recommended by a local nursery but still end up with buggy apples. Most of the trees produce a pithy tasting fruit, I think the trees need some minerals or fertilizer. The deer sure do love the apples. The trees are quite old and are pretty much falling apart but they sure do have a lot of character. One is almost hollow, another is loosing a lot of its bark and the other two have that "on their last legs" look.

start up the chain saw
Might be time to do a heavy pruning to get the apple tree back to producing

at least you will have some wood for smokin on the grill

[Patrick Doody]

My family has a small chunk of land in central Minnesota, I've been thinking about planting about a half a dozen apple trees up there and maybe keeping some bees as well. I'm partial to Honeycrisp for eating and Regent for baking, so that's what I'll likely be planting up there. I am worried about the local deer destroying the trees for the first few years.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

My wife and I just finished canning for our garden this fall. One of the things we like and we do not have is apples, but we are lucky we are less than 10 miles from a world class orchard that has just about everything and every kind of apple. We have been going there for years, and the owner will allow my wife and I to pick our own apples from his orchard for 10.00 a bushel. We picked 2 1/2 bushes this year (we put up close to 70 quarts of apples.) Nothing better than gravy and biscuts for breakfast with fried apples on the side!

Hey Denny,
I can't believe that I forgot about fried apples. Would have a recipe that you are willing to share? Thanks!

[Denny Rice]

Hey Denny,
I can't believe that I forgot about fried apples. Would have a recipe that you are willing to share? Thanks!

Ron,

My wife usually does most of the cooking. We put up Macintosh apples every year because they are a great apple to cook with. I know that there is butter and sugar involved with the apples as they cook in the skillet. She's already went to bed for the evening but I will find out exactly what she uses for you tomorrow.

[Scott Hildenbrand]

There's not much to fried apples... Slice em, toss em in the skillet with some butter and put some brown sugar on top.. Little cinnamon if you choose.. White sugar works and will give a burnt caramelized flavor, just don't over do it.

[David G Baker]

Phil.
I'll give it a try. I usually cut the dead branches out of the trees every year. Not too many branches left on a couple of the trees. Haven't tried using the wood on the grill but have thought about it a few times.

[Scott Hildenbrand]

I use a mix of apple and pecan in the smoker.. Makes a nice, thicker smoke flavor.. Know alot of people only use 25-50% fruit wood when smoking and prefer to use oak as a base.