Friday, October 13, 2017

Apples, start to finish

For the first time since leaving our house in Oregon (where we had mature pear and apple trees), I harvested apples from our own fruit trees.


The apples were neither large nor abundant, but not bad for a first crop.



Despite the trees' youth, most of the fruit was still above my reach. At my height, this isn't uncommon. The fruit-picking basket came in handy.




I only got nine pounds, but hey, it's a start.



Since we didn't have any more apple pie filling in the pantry, I decided to turn the whole batch into pie filling.


I used fruit pie filling directions I got years ago from the county extension service.



Blanching the apple slices.


Starting the filling.


The filling, thickened.


Adding the blanched apples to the filling.


As usual, on days I have kitchen projects, I have the remarkable skill of dirtying every dish in the kitchen.


Seems like a lot of work for just five quarts of pie filling. But it's pie filling from our own apples -- and that's a thrill!

11 comments:

  1. Congrats! You'll enjoy those apples this winter, that's for sure. We had a banner year in our orchard this year...lots of apples yet to process. :-) Melissa in the U.P.

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  2. Yummo!! I turned my apples into applesauce this year, but pie filling sounds soooo much better!!

    Personally, I spent the day freezing pumpkin for muffins and pancakes. It's always either pumpkin muffins or pumpkin pancakes that my granddaughter asks for as she enters my house!! That never fails to give me a very warm feeling!!

    Happy fall.

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  3. That's what we have been doing here this week. Pie filling and apple butter. Yum Yum. and lots of plum jam. glad your trees worked well. ken..also in the U.P.

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    Replies
    1. Just wanted to give a shout out to our neighbors in the U.P. from the L.P. I made apple chips in the dehydrator (they are so Good) then made apple pie filling and froze it.

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    2. We did too. chips are SOOOO GOOD ! And they keep a long time. I really like using my Wolf River Apples for that. I really recommend planting that variety. I've never had a problem with getting a good crop here in Houghton Co. ---ken

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  4. Looks delicious! I've got chicken stock to make and can this weekend. I'm sure I'll dirty every thing too.
    Tiffany

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  5. This year we lost alot of apples to wasps. I need to do a better job of finding their nests and spraying them in the summer. We store our apples in a cool room and the wife makes pies all Fall, :)

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  6. so how old are your apple trees if I may ask. We planted 12 last year and we celebrated a two apple harvest...I need to learn patience

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    1. We planted them in May 2016. See this post:
      http://www.rural-revolution.com/2016/05/baby-orchard.html
      Since they came in pots, they were already a couple of years old.

      - Patrice

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    2. You may also need to amend your soil.
      After 5 years of minimal apple harvests I decided to spread some wood ash around our trees last fall. This year we had a much better crop. It was just a trial/error thing. Testing the soil might give a better idea of what the trees might need.

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  7. That looks delicious - and now I want pie.

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