What to do with Apples?

[snowangel]

I have a lot of apples. Think three grocery bags full. Beautiful Haralson's. Obviously, the five us can't eat enough pies and raw apples to take care of them before they will go.

Suggestions (please, no applesauce)?

I know that when I have excess peaches, I make pie filling with the raw peaches, line pie tins with foil, add the filling, fold and freeze. Stick frozen filling into a pie crust and top with a top crust, and bake. Will this work with apples?

I love caramelized apples (not caramel cover whole apples). Can one make and freeze? I know there would be some loss of texture, but...

Other suggestions?

Edited to add: Haralson's are a supreme eating and baking apple. Choice of Minnesotan's for baking.

[zennenn]

Hi snowangel--

I don't see why you can't prepare them as for peaches in your post. I slice Haralsons for pie and freeze them frequently, and the texture/flavor doesn't suffer when baked. They still hold their shape, and the pie is juicy, but less runny than made from fresh. I think this is due to the ice crystals forming and water from the apples draining away after I thaw them. I don't mind the drier result - less need for thickening.

Sorry I don't have creative usage ideas, but I am interested in what everyone else has to say.

By the way, where did you get them? I am not always happy with the flavor of Haralsons. Sometimes it's all tart and no real flavor, most other times they are beyond compare.

[snowangel]

By the way, where did you get them? I am not always happy with the flavor of Haralsons. Sometimes it's all tart and no real flavor, most other times they are beyond compare.

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My best friend's MIL owns an orchard. It was a fabulous Haralson year.

[kjente2]

I love caramelized apples (not caramel cover whole apples).  Can one make and freeze?  I know there would be some loss of texture, but...

Other suggestions?

Edited to add:  Haralson's are a supreme eating and baking apple.  Choice of Minnesotan's for baking.

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Ship them to ME!

Make individual apple crisps or pies, pull them out when you want them in the winter. Use muffin cups or individual pie tins. I would guess you make make whole baked apples and freeze them once they're baked.

The apples themselves will keep whole for a long time if you have a place in your house that you can keep them cool and humid, a wet cloth on them is all that you need. I don't remember the temperature range, but I'm sure the orchard person can tell you. It's the dehydration that wrecks them.

[rlibkind]

Do what the Pennsylvania Dutch do: make schnitz (dried apple slices). Though I have no knowledge as to whether or not Haralsons are an idea variety for drying.

[Wendy DeBord]

I would love to know more about long term storage of apples with-out preparing them into something else. I have 3 apple trees in my garden and have never found a way to store them fresh for a long period of time. I currently store them in a refridgerator. But they usually don't last more then a month or two. Out of the fridge storage doesn't prolong keeping........just the opposite, they ruin very quickly.

At work we do purchase frozen apple slices, that last a long time and work just fine in recipes. I'd like to know specificly how they treat the apples slices to prevent browning and moisture loss. Anyone know the science on this?

[Beanie]

I would love to know more about long term storage of apples with-out preparing them into something else. I have 3 apple trees in my garden and have never found a way to store them fresh for a long period of time. I currently store them in a refridgerator. But they usually don't last more then a month or two. Out of the fridge storage doesn't prolong keeping........just the opposite, they ruin very quickly.

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There's an apple orchard down the road from me. I've noticed apples stored in wooden bins in the barn ... basically cold storage, but not refrigerated. I'll ask them about it and post a reply. It may take a a couple of days.

[rlibkind]

I would love to know more about long term storage of apples with-out preparing them into something else. I have 3 apple trees in my garden and have never found a way to store them fresh for a long period of time.

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The "science" is largely within the apple itself: it depends on the variety. Some are excellent "keepers", some are not. Cold storage certainly helps.

One great storage apple, that in recent years has become more readily available, is Arkansas Black. But there are any number of others.

Here's an informative article on the subject.

[MelissaH]

My MIL makes and then cans her own apple pie filling. She uses Northern Spy apples, but if Haralsons are a good pie apple, I see no reason why it wouldn't work for that. I don't have her recipe here at work, so I can't provide more details.

MelissaH

[Redsugar]

Crisp, juicy-tart Haralsons would venture successfully in recipes such as….

Apples à la Grecque.

Apple Bonne Femme.

Apple Confit, spiced with star anise.

Apple & Quince Charlotte.

Apple strudel in phyllo.

Sticky-sweet caramelized Apples.

Dumplings.

Turnovers (served with spiced crème fraîche).

And a dessert pizza – with Bosc pears, dried cranberries, mascarpone cheese.

[curlywurlyfi]

I love caramelized apples (not caramel cover whole apples).

Could you make caramelized apple ice cream? Maybe with creme fraiche or plain yoghurt instead of sweet milk custard? You could puree most of the toffee'd apples + leave a few smallish chunks so that even if they freeze a bit granular they're relatively small anyway.

(edit: fixed quote)

Edited October 25, 2005 by curlywurlyfi (log)

[Redsugar]

Curlywurlyfi:

There are distinctions worth noting re the candying of apples:

Sticky-sweet caramelized apples are created by sautéing firm-apple wedges in caramel for several minutes. Quite delicious served over brown-bread-&-honey ice cream. Or, simply substitute apples flambéed in Calvados.

Toffee apples have a soft, brown toffee coating obtained by dipping (whole) crisp apples into hard-crack “brittle” syrup (dark-brown sugar, molasses, butter, vinegar).

Taffy apples, on the other hand, are the children’s classic apples encased in a clear, hard (sometimes red) sugary shellac.

Mention has been made of puréeing the apples – and, indeed, that’s plausible. I also like the idea of making a simple apple purée (rather than applesauce) – using 1 lb. cored, chopped Jonathan or Winesap apples, a sugar cube, 1 oz. of butter – and adding it to a caramel-based ice cream as it’s churning. (Leaving the apples unskinned would added color & texture to the ice cream or frozen yogurt.) Pure rum flavoring would accent the ice most favorably. (Marrons glacé or walnuts appear as accompaniments!)

I think both approaches can be greenlit.

[Beanie]

I would love to know more about long term storage of apples with-out preparing them into something else. I have 3 apple trees in my garden and have never found a way to store them fresh for a long period of time. I currently store them in a refridgerator. But they usually don't last more then a month or two. Out of the fridge storage doesn't prolong keeping........just the opposite, they ruin very quickly.

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There's an apple orchard down the road from me. I've noticed apples stored in wooden bins in the barn ... basically cold storage, but not refrigerated. I'll ask them about it and post a reply. It may take a a couple of days.

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I stopped by the orchard this morning and talked to the owner. I was mistaken about the wooden bin thing mentioned above for long-term storage. His family successfully stores apples for months at a time in an old, manual defrost refrigerator that holds at a consistent temperature of 36-38 degrees. He was emphatic about keeping the temperature consistent. Newer, self defrosting refrigerators cycle on and off and will not be effective. Large commercial operations utilize Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage. More about that here.

[Wendy DeBord]

Wow thats interesting Beanie.........my extra refridg. isn't new by any means but it does self defrost. I can't believe it, that makes that much of a difference..........I'll be damned! Thanks for asking them, I do appreciate it alot!

Any chance you saw how they store their apples in the refridgerator? I've played trying paper grocery bags, plastic bags, cardboard boxes, bushel container, glass bowls, tupperware and then covering each and leaving them uncovered in the refrid.. I think open paper bags have probably worked the best, but I don't know, maybe some years it's about the apples inner moisture or how late in the season we harvested them.........?

[andiesenji]

You can dry apple slices - give them a bath in 7-up or any citrus soda - drain and spread on a cooling rack or on parchment paper on a sheet pan. Dust with cinnamon, cinnamon and sugar or a mixture of spices of your choice (I like a mixture of cinnamon, allspice and a small amount of cloves) and place in a very low oven until dried - they will be flexible and chewy. The sugar concentrates and the dried slices will taste sweeter than raw.

Dried apples can be stewed as you would any dried fruit, carmelized and make the best fried pies.

Full instructions are HERE.

I use a hand-cranked corer/peeler/slicer because it makes even slices which are spiral-cut.

When you cut straight down across the stack of slices you end up with perfectly even slices which dry easier than wedges.

[Beanie]

Wow thats interesting Beanie.........my extra refridg. isn't new by any means but it does self defrost. I can't believe it, that makes that much of a difference..........I'll be damned!  Thanks for asking them, I do appreciate it alot!

Any chance you saw how they store their apples in the refridgerator? I've played trying paper grocery bags, plastic bags, cardboard boxes, bushel container, glass bowls, tupperware and then covering each and leaving them uncovered in the refrid.. I think open paper bags have probably worked the best, but I don't know, maybe some years it's about the apples inner moisture or how late in the season we harvested them.........?

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I was surprised too, because I think of the freezer being subject to defrosting, not the entire refrigerator. Maybe the refrigerator cycles on and off to maintain temperature and causes humidity or condensation... just a guess. Anyway, he kept repeating this over and over -- at surprising length given the propensity of farmers in this area to limit their comments to "yup" and "nope" (I say this with affection.) He went on to suggest that your local appliance store might have an old refrigerator that they'd be glad to have you take away.

I didn't see how they store the apples, but this is a great reason to go back for more cider donuts. I'll report back over the weekend.

[andiesenji]

The newer refrigerators with automatic defrost remove moisture from the refrigerator as well as from the freezer. Ever notice how things will dry out faster in the newer appliances?

In my ancient huge side by side Kelvinator (32 cubic foot monster) I could leave a head of lettuce or a bunch of leaf lettuce on any shelf and it would stay fresh for a couple of days at least, longer in the vegetable bin. I kept that thing for 30+ years, gave it to a friend and it is still working. They don't make them like that anymore! (4 ft wide and 6 ft tall)

In the newer appliances it will have dry blackened leaves on the outside in less than a day and the leaf lettuce will practically disintegrate unless wrapped or in a plastic bag.

The Apple Farm on Angeles Forest Highway has an old walk-in cooler with unpainted wooden walls inside, cooled by an antique compressor outside that runs off an old engine that looks like it came off an equally ancient washing machine.

I store apples in my pantry that has its own air conditioning unit that keeps the temp around 55 degrees. Chilly but not cold. I have some milk crates in which I store them with each layer separated by loosely crumpled newspaper. I also keep them away from other fruits and vegetables as they tend to cause other fruits to ripen too quickly.

Edited October 27, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[andiesenji]

I posted the site for lots of apple recipes on the other apple thread. In case you missed it here it is again.

Recipe Source, once known as SOAR

The original list of recipes was started at Berkeley in the early 90s and one could get to it using Compuserve or Delphi or one of the other services with which to connect to workgroups, user lists, etc., that charged by the minute. My Compuserve bill used to be huge, compared to today and the connection was via a 600 baud modem - talk about slooooooow!

Edited October 27, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[Beanie]

The newer refrigerators with automatic defrost remove moisture from the refrigerator as well as from the freezer.  Ever notice how things will dry out faster in the newer appliances?

In my ancient huge side by side Kelvinator (32 cubic foot monster) I could leave a head of lettuce or a bunch of leaf lettuce on any shelf and it would stay fresh for a couple of days at least, longer in the vegetable bin. I kept that thing for 30+ years, gave it to a friend and it is still working.  They don't make them like that anymore!  (4 ft wide and 6 ft tall)

In the newer appliances it will have dry blackened leaves on the outside in less than a day and the leaf lettuce will practically disintegrate unless wrapped or in a plastic bag.

The Apple Farm on Angeles Forest Highway has an old walk-in cooler with unpainted wooden walls inside, cooled by an antique compressor outside that runs off an old engine that looks like it came off an equally ancient washing machine.

I store apples in my pantry that has its own air conditioning unit that keeps the temp around 55 degrees.  Chilly but not cold.  I have some milk crates in which I store them with each layer separated by loosely crumpled newspaper.  I also keep them away from other fruits and vegetables as they tend to cause other fruits to ripen too quickly.

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You're such a wealth of information. Thanks for adding to this discussion.

[Beanie]

You can dry apple slices - give them a bath in 7-up or any citrus soda - drain and spread on a cooling rack or on parchment paper on a sheet pan.  Dust with cinnamon, cinnamon and sugar or a mixture of spices of your choice (I like a mixture of cinnamon, allspice and a small amount of cloves) and place in a very low oven until dried - they will be flexible and chewy.  The sugar concentrates and the dried slices will taste sweeter than raw.

Dried apples can be stewed as you would any dried fruit, carmelized and make the best fried pies.

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Fried pies? Do you have a recipe that you can share? I have lots of dried apple slices that I sell as snacks and I'd love to try frying a pie!

[andiesenji]

This recipe fried apple pies

is pretty much exactly the way I make them except I use lard in my pie crust.

There is an Amish or Mennonite cookbook somewhere in my collection that has a little different recipe. The Amish and Penn Dutch are very adept at making these tasty little treasures.

I think the name of the cookbook is "Good Food that Really Schmecks" and I was searching for it a while back and couldn't find it. If you should come across it, take a look. I bought mine about 35- 40 years ago.

[snowangel]

As it has turned out, the apples are disappearing. They are in the garage, and what is left is holding nicely.

One night it was carmelized apples, ala deconstructed apple crust, over ice cream with really wonderful granola on top. I have at least three a day. Breakfast and lunch, with thin slices of really wonderful tilset cheese. The kids are each putting at least one in their backpacks each day for pick-me-ups. They also are nice in salads with sharp cheese, nuts and all sorts of greens.

And, when they are baked, they really cook down. So, you can see what we had for dinner tonight if you look here. Moment of maternal pride.