There is a sense around here that fall is coming. It is only 100 degrees today so I am almost giddy. I have faith that someday we will be able to pull out the hoodies and play outside for more than a half hour at a time. It will happen! That means, apple season, pumpkin pie, holidays! Hooray!
A couple weeks ago, we were up at the cabin and the apples were ripe for the picking. It had been a couple years since we have had good apples due to the frost and Elk. The kids were busy gathering bags full to take home to munch. We needed to use them up fast so we ate lots and lots of apple dishes: Apple crepes, apple muffins, apple crisp, apples and peanut butter, apple sauce, etc. I still had a big bag full so I did the lazy girls version of canning; my favorite.
I used my handy apple corer/peeler and in minutes had those apples in cute little rings. Immediately they were dunked in a bowl with half water, half apple juice (no sugar variety) and about 8 drops of lemon oil (essential oil) to keep them from turning brown. As I would peel/core the apples, I would put them in the bowl. This way , they were kept from turning brown while I was getting the whole batch done.
After the bowl was filled. I gently put them in quart freezer bags, making sure that there was a some juice in each bag so that they were not exposed to air. I would seal them up tight so there were not any air pockets and into the freezer they went. I always have a backup plan in case we all loose power , long term and my freezer food storage would spoil. I have a 3 burner camp stove with 4 extra propane tanks filled and ready to used. I have lots of mason jars and good pressure cooker/canner. I would can them immediately so then they could go on the shelf. Same thing for the meats in the freezer. I prefer to have my food frozen, not canned so I usually go for the freezer first with the canning back up plan. When I run out of room in the big freezer, I opt for canning but I haven't been that good lately to stock up as I should. Hopefully I will be better the rest of the year!
These apples are great to pull out to use for waffle and crepe toppings or apple crisp. I love that they aren't in a syrup to ruin the nutritional quality. Apples are sweet enough. They don't get mushy if you use good apples.
Until next Wednesday, October 5th, Organic apples are on sale for $.99 per pound at Sprouts. Great time to get your apples stash going!
4 comments:
Thanks, for you ideas with apples. I have frozen apple sauce, but not apple slices. Great idea. I have some apples I need to do this with. I love putting things in the freezer. :)
Our cabin is in Pine.
We have apples GALORE up here too. We have been doing the same. Making apple butter, apple sauce, apple pie filling, eating them raw every chance we can, juicing them.....How do they turn out after you freeze them Are they soft or still crispy/ I am going to have to try this. Freezing fruit is SO MUCH faster than canning. Not to mention, its not near as messy!
When I use my frozen apples, I use them for filling or waffle toppings and they don't taste any different than when you use a raw apple and cook them for the filling. They still have a great texture. You couldn't just thaw them and get a crisp apple but they taste better than the canned apples!
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