Apples a Plenty - Harvest Recipes and Preservation

Apples, Apples and More Apples! With the arrival of autumn, the apple season is in full swing. Fruit laden trees have begun to rain apples down and it's time to get scrumping. With three little trees up the allotment, I have found myself overwhelmed by the amount of fruit - and that's even after many have been so kindly donated (or should I say returned) to nature. A few nibbles here and there won’t hurt the fruit and can be easily cut out during processing. However, with limited ‘perfect’ apples, I found myself struggling to use them up before they go over.

Three beautiful red varieties, all good for eating. Incredibly sweet and glorious in colour, these apples made perfect apple rings. Lovely little snacks preserved through drying that almost convinced the kids that they were sweets! An easy recipe that uses up the bulk of nearly perfect apples.

As for those with a few bites missing: a combination of sauces, crumble mixtures and tarts were the way to go. Cutting away the damaged parts and utilising the rest of the fruit produced way more apple than anticipated - and there’s still more on the trees!

Apple Ring Recipe

This super easy recipe is the perfect way to use almost perfect apples and turn them into tasty long lasting treats.

1. Wash your apples clean of any dirt. Soak the apples for 30 minutes if they have any holes to flush out any hiding creepy crawlies.

2. Peel the fruit and remove the core with a corer to keep the traditional ring shape.

3. Thinly slice the fruit into rings - very thin slices will become chewier and dry out more, slightly thicker can be more similar in texture to sweets. Make a mix of both and experiment to find out how you’d like them best!

4. Place the rings onto parchment paper in a dehydrator and leave for 16-24 hours at 55 degrees Celsius until dry. Once ready, place in an airtight container.

Other methods: dehydration can be done in a low temperature oven over a few hours or by the traditional method by threading the rings on a clean cane and allowing to dry in a high place for a few days.

Twists: Add a dusting on cinnamon or pumpkin spice before drying to add a festive taste. Or leave the skins on for an extra element of crispiness.

Apple Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1.1 kg Apples

• 150 g Sugar (To add in increments!)

• 1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice

• 100 ml Water

Method:

1. Prepare the apples by peeling, coring and cubing the apples. Removing any bug munched segments and adding all the apple cubes to the pot.

2. Place the pot on a medium heat adding most of the sugar, the lemon juice and the water.

3. Cook until the fruit is soft. Taste at this point and see if you’d like to add more sugar - this depends on your personal taste and the type of apple used!

4. If you have a sauce press, you can take the apple mixture and press until smooth. If you don’t and would like an almost smooth texture, continue stewing the apples until they break apart into a smooth sauce.

5. Spoon the sauce into sterilised jars and seal appropriately. The apple sauce will last months in the cupboard. Once open, keep in the fridge.

How to know how much you’d need:

Sometimes too many numbers can be a little confusing. If you need to adjust this recipe to a different weight of apple cubes, here is the magic number to multiple all the ingredients by!

Your Apples in kg divided by 1.1 kg gives you the number to multiply all the ingredients by.

For Example:

2 kg of apples / 1.1 kg = 1.8

Crumble Mix - Stewed Fruits Recipe

A fantastic and tasty way to use up a few apples and an assortment of fruit. Those last of the season blackberries or an over ripe peach? Perfect to be stewed and turned into a scrummy crumble.

Fruit:

1. Wash, prep and dice the fruit into small chunks.

2. Place in a saucepan, add two tablespoons of sugar and a splash of water. You can always add more sugar later.

3. Keep on a low-medium heat and allow the sugar to dissolve. Stir occasionally.

4. Once the fruit has cooked and is soft to press with a spoon, take off the heat and place in an oven safe dish.

Topping:

1. Take 175g of plain flour, 110g of golden caster sugar, and 110g of cold butter and place in a bowl.

2. Rub the butter into the mixture by hand until the whole bowl is mixed into a sandy consistency.

3. Sprinkle on top of the fruit mixture and put in the oven at 160 degrees for 10-20 minutes to crisp up. Alternatively, toast for 10-15 minutes on a baking sheet in the oven before spooning onto the hot fruit mixture to serve.

Make the most of nature’s bounty by preserving your beautiful apples! These recipes with a few little tweaks can also work for pears, plums and cherries - perfect for prolonging the life of all your fruits.

Crate of homegrown apples

Dehydrator of apple slices

Pink fleshed apple ring

Jar of homemade apple sauce

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