When we first rented this house, we had no idea that the tree in the backyard was an apple tree. We just thought it was a crabapple tree, because there were a profusion of small green apples all over it. And then we moved in and got the surprise of a lifetime: those little green apples were destined to become real apples.
I had every intention of thinning the tree heavily, so that we got a sold crop of large apples come fall, but with work, school, moving, and marathon training, my attempts at thinning out the apple tree were rather limited. Suddenly, it was fall, and the branches on the tree were literally bent to the ground, they were so heavy with fruit. And thus began the state of appletopia.
The apple tree is entirely organic, and so little critters have had their free reign to nibble on apples to their hearts' content. At first, I thought this would mean that 80% of our apples would be headed directly for the compost bin. Imagine my surprise when one day, I picked all of these apples that were fit for human consumption:
Then 2 days later, I was able to pick these as well.
We still don't have all of the apples off the tree, either. Most of the ones left are really high up on the tree, and we don't have a ladder yet, so they are out of range. The ones that are lower are pretty much no good at this point, and headed for the compost bin. I'm not sad about it, though. This is a lot of apples to find good uses for.
So far this Autumn, we have made 2 batches of apple crisp, 2 batches of applesauce, 5 loaves of apple cinnamon swirl bread, and an apple galette. We've also been eating apples like they're going out of style, and giving them away. It doesn't seem to make a real dent in our supply. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be making some apple butter and more applesauce, which should (fingers crossed) dwindle our supply... just in time for us to buy a ladder and finish getting all those apples off the darn tree.
Seriously, it's like an apple orchard threw up all over my house. I'm not sad about it. I just wish we had an applejack press so that we could be making cider with all of this goodness.
What is your favorite way to eat an apple? We keep hearing about the same apple recipes over and over... I need some fresh ideas!
YUM!!! I love having a bunch of apples without having to buy them - it makes me a very happy lady :) We normally stick with the stand-bys of apple pie and apple crisp, but what can I say? We're boring and love it! We always freeze five or six gallon bags of sliced apples, too, so we can have some fall desserts throughout the winter!
ReplyDeleteWow that's pretty awesome, I would make little gifts to give to people for the fall... fresh fall apples :) lol
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! You should post pics of your apple creations!
ReplyDelete