Tips on preserving surplus windfall cooking apples

PennyGSD

Exactly as the title says really.

I have a massive cooking apple tree in my garden and every year I do my best to make the best use of the fruit, but this year it has me a little beaten.

A combination of a mild, wet spring followed by a pretty good summer and not having got around to pruning it this winter means we're drowning in fruit.

I've stored as many good, whole apples as I can on trays with paper separating them - they usually last until about Christmas time - and I've frozen a combination of cooked down mush as well as some whole raw slices, but I really can't spare any more freezer space as I have a fairly productive allotment too.

So is there any way to preserve the windfalls that won't store? And in such a way that they can be used for more than just a teaspoon with Sunday dinner, or to naturally sweeten baked goods?

I have a 'help yourself' pile outside my house, but same as the supermarkets, people seem to only want to take whole, unblemished fruit.

C_J

Do you have any eating apple trees too? A mixture of cooking and eating apples makes fantastic cider!

PennyGSD

Fraid not. I've made wine out of them before, but didn't really like the outcome, despite being a fairly proficient home wine maker. Ended up being a waste of sugar in reality.

C_J

Have you thought about a dehydrator? They can be quite pricey, but they do a brilliant job with apple slices. Then you just store them in screw top jars to keep the moisture out, and rehydrate the slices with a little water or apple juice when you want to cook with them.

You can get very fancy industrial type machines, and also more affordable domestic ones (mine is an Andrew James cheapo one, but it still does a good job).

Handbag59

People are funny like you I put out a box of cooking apples at the front of my drive and no one was interested until I bagged them up then they disappeared at a rate of knots, however, one day the box was empty apart from a few empty bags??

moneyistooshorttomention

Have you got a foodbank near you? Some of them take fresh fruit and vegetables.

[Deleted User]

You could make apple jelly with windfalls, they just need washing and chopping for that not peeling and coring as the jelly bag holds all the solids and lets the juice drip through. Process into jelly as you would make jam at 1lb of sugar to I pint of juice and it's a component of gravy in any pork or game casserole right through the winter. You can also make apple 'cheese' a very old fashioned preserve which you set in a straight sided jar and turn out to slice with real cheese, delicious!

Islandmaid

We mainly peel, core, chop and freeze, some cooked, some raw, some are used for jam making, like MrsLW said natural pectin, brill

We swap for other produce too, eggs, runner beans, marrow, whatever really.

PennyGSD

C_J wrote: »

Have you thought about a dehydrator? They can be quite pricey, but they do a brilliant job with apple slices. Then you just store them in screw top jars to keep the moisture out, and rehydrate the slices with a little water or apple juice when you want to cook with them.

You can get very fancy industrial type machines, and also more affordable domestic ones (mine is an Andrew James cheapo one, but it still does a good job).

I have a cheapy VonShef dehydrator - I make all my own 100% meat treats for my raw fed dogs - so I did think about apple slices, but to be honest I reckon it would only take about 3 apples to completely fill it. Although I guess thin apple slices wouldn't take as long as meat to dehydrate fully so turnaround could be quicker?

PennyGSD

Hmmm. Apple jelly and 'cheese' sound interesting. I'll have a look at those.

At to swapping for other produce or taking to a food bank, I think I might run into trouble with them being windfalls so damaged. I'll make some enquiries though.

Although the simplest option appears to be bagging them up to make it easier for people to take them, even if they will then leave the bags behind

scottishminnie

I made around a dozen pots of Apple Butter last year.
Made in the slow cooker and used up a hefty pile of apples from my trees I'll post a recipe later when I'm online and not battling this phone. It can then be used in cakes too.