Them Apples
Monday, September 30, 2013 at 8:09PM You want a quick way to check how my life is going?
Go look in my storage room.
Last year the upright freezer was empty and the shelves were bare.
This year the freezer has 8 pie fillings, 3 ziploc bags of cookies, a dozen pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (there were 2 dozen but I sent some back with Reagan yesterday), several loaves of peach bread, 4 bags of grated zucchini (for brownies or vegetarian chili) and batches of frozen peach puree for various recipes. The shelves of the storage room have six quarts of apple-pear sauce and 8 pints of apple butter.
When I am happy I store food. Weird but true.
The whole last week I’ve been processing apples. It started with a trip to the apple orchard. We’ve been going to Martin’s Hillside Orchard since the kids were little though it’s been a few years since we’ve had time because Reagan’s fall volleyball schedule always packed the weekends. If I remember correctly, the last time we went, we pulled a wagon behind us which the kids filled with 80+ pounds of apples.
That was too many.
This time it was just four of us (family outings with one kid gone feel weird, just so you know and makes for a sad picture) so I told them to just fill two grocery sacks each and we’d call it good.
Guess how much eight grocery sacks of apples weigh?
76 pounds.
Sigh.
It wasn’t Hayden’s fault. Hayden was determined to pick only apples out of reach, thus I think he only filled half a sack himself.
It took him three full minutes to pick one apple from the top of this tree.
This was the tree right beside him.
Faith and I quickly ditched the boys and went for the trees dripping with Jonathans.
We quickly filled our bags and headed back to Rich and Hayden to help them finish up with Jonagolds and Fujis. The Fujis are for eating, but I had plans for the other varieties.
First up was applesauce. Normally I use Golden Delicious for this, but they weren’t quite ripe yet so I crossed my fingers with the Jonathans and Jonagolds. The first batch was actually a little tart for my taste (I don’t like to add sugar) but that was ok, because I made it into apple butter.
You really should make some apple butter. There is no better smell at the end of the day, than walking into a house filled with the aroma of apple butter bubbling in the slow cooker. Mouth watering. You don’t even have to make your own applesauce to make the apple butter.
One of my very favorite gadgets of all time is the thingy I used to make applesauce or tomato sauce. I don’t know what it’s called … food mill maybe? but it’s magical.
You don’t have to core or peel the apples, just quarter them and cook them in a big pot until they’re soft and then dump them into the top.
Then you just turn the crank and apple sauce comes pouring out through the screen.
While all the seeds, hulls and peels plop out the end.
When you’re done, you have a big pan of hot applesauce and a disaster area in your kitchen.
That last picture is of the first batch I made which was pink from the red skins of the Jonathans - another reason I usually use Golden Delicious.
For the second batch, I had a bunch of over-ripe pears that I threw in to cook with the apples and Oh. My. Word. did the combination make the BEST applesauce ever. The pears made it sweeter and added an extra layer of flavor that’s just delicious. They also made the sauce more golden in color which people seem to like.
So now I have all these jars of home made goodness and a freezer full of pie potential and I am torn because while it’s all delicious, it was so much danged work that I don’t want to eat any of it and deplete my supply!
It’s a conundrum I tell you.
But I love pie enough that I’m pretty sure I’ll get over it.
Reader Comments (5)
Did you hear the "pop"?
Going to show a little British ignorance here and ask what you use apple butter for? Apple sauce we have and use, but whilst I've heard of the butter, I don't know the difference is or whether it might be something my mum and I could make to use all the apples we've got!
I've made loads of jam in the last few weeks. I find it massively satisfying even though my hands tend to get rather stained!
Still praising God for His goodness to you. Often tell your story to encourage others.
Margie - I did! That pop is music to my ears.
Sarah -Apple butter is used just like you would use jam or jelly - as a topping for bread mostly. I like a piece of warm toast smeared with butter and apple butter. Mmmmm - lots of fall flavor. I'll bet your your jams are just beautiful. I wish I had made some when strawberries were in season. Home made jam is wonderful.
I'm still praising God too, and he's still working. Lots of healing had to be done around here and as I look back over the months and see how far we've come from the horribly hurting family we were I know that God gets all the credit.
I used to make applesauce with my grandma and I sure wish she was still alive so I can learn how to do it now. one thing that we don't have here in San Francisco bay area is we do not have apple orchards around here. We grow everything else but that. So sad :-(
I love your happy, full pantry! Michaela asked yesterday if we could make applesauce, and I thought of this post. I told her about your contraption and she lit up and said,"Can we get one?!" :) I told her,"Well, it looks like it makes a pretty big mess to make applesauce," and she looked at me dubiously, and I confessed,"Yes, that's what my kitchen looks like anyway." :)