What to do with a glut of apples?

[Piglet]

Just come back from Dad's and we've taken bags and bags of apples off his tree!

We've stewed some down today and put them in the freezer and packed away the best ones wrapped in newspaper in the hope that they will keep for a while but there are still five bags of apples left even after giving some to the neighbours!!

None of us like chutney so that's out...but I've found a recipe for bottling apples...but I'm worried about them exploding! I have very very vivid memories of my Dad exploding a large plastic pot of apples some years ago as he'd taken frozen stewed apple out the freezer and left it for a couple of days and I guess it fermented - I thought someone was chucking bricks through the windows!

Has anyone bottled apples and not had to scrape them off their kitchen ceiling!?

This is the recipe...

Apple & Cinnamon

• 7 cups Apples (Peeled & Cored)
• 6 cups Sugar
• 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Cinnamon

How To Make

1. Before you start, make sure that all the apples have been thoroughly washed, peeled and cored.
2. Slice up the apples finely and place in a large saucepan over a high heat.
3. Add the sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon while stirring continuously.
4. Let the mixture boil for about half an hour until thickened, removing any scum that may rise to the surface.
5. Pour the mixture into jam jars, seal and store away.

[dougc]

Cider!!!

[Piglet]

dougc said:

Cider!!!

Too much hard work for this year...but that's next year's plan

[tobeee]

Piglet said:

dougc said:

Cider!!!

Too much hard work for this year...but that's next year's plan

That's what I said last year... and now I have four large bins bubbling away in the garage! Can't wait to start the tasting!

[Piglet]

tobeee said:

Piglet said:

dougc said:

Cider!!!

Too much hard work for this year...but that's next year's plan

That's what I said last year... and now I have four large bins bubbling away in the garage! Can't wait to start the tasting!

I'd be interested in hearing how you get on. We'll have a go next year when we're living near to Dad. At the moment we haven't got space where we are and we're not at his for long enough to deal with cider making.

Any other thoughts on bottling apples?

[Triumph Coupe]

Don't forget you can swap some with a mate who might have a glut of something else at some point of the year (sloes, plums, pears, beans, eggs, whatever)

It is nice to form such relationships.

[Markh]

dougc said:

Cider!!!

calvdos

[simonrockman]

Do you have to press apples for cider - can you use an electric juicer?

Simon

[sgrimshaw]

simonrockman said:

Do you have to press apples for cider - can you use an electric juicer?

Simon

No reason why not.

Pressing used to be the most efficient way to extract the maximum juice from the apples, modern juicers do the same job in a different way.

[brum]

Distill Methanol?

[bazking69]

Crumble all the way.
In the last week I've done a massive apple on and a blackberry one. All the fruit was free.

[TpdNotts]

It's got to be a crumble, especially with grated marzipan in the crumbly bit or some oats. I could happily eat crumble with custard every single day!

[Piglet]

TpdNotts said:

It's got to be a crumble, especially with grated marzipan in the crumbly bit or some oats. I could happily eat crumble with custard every single day!

We've got enough apples that we COULD eat crumble every day for the next year and probably still have some left over

Trouble is we don't have enough freezer space in the meantime!

I'm going for bottling the apples in a sugar syrup (plus stewing loads in the freezer space we have)...

[Simply Si]

Cider is the only way forward, my ex mother inlaw lived southwest direction and bottles of cider helped me cope during visits.....

[tobeee]

simonrockman said:

Do you have to press apples for cider - can you use an electric juicer?

Simon

We cut the first enormous batch of apples by hand (couple of hours) then after a week in the bin to start fermenting, I used a handheld soup-blender to mulch it all down a bit. Unfortunately the blender was not designed for such quantities and got quite hot, before belching out a bit of smoke! For the second enormous batch we used a table-top blender to get the apples into dice sized pieces, and reckon that's fine enough. All now ready for straining through hessian and then muslin. I have some ideas to exert enough force to mimic a press, but obviously a press would be better. And then I need to clear some space in the garage ready for a lot of bottles!

[simonrockman]

Our juicer takes whole apples. Once I have the juice how do I make it into cider?