My trees seem to have gone mad this year and have a huge number of apples at each station so I have been picking off the excess and leaving only one. Some apples drop them naturally but Discovery and James Grieve seem to hang onto them and then only produce rather small apples.
Has anyone any suggestions as to what to do with the green apples. They are about an inch across.
IF there is any edible use for them..I'm interested too. Usually mine just end up in compost bin.
Yep..plenty of thinning to here too..Ohh..its long job. I DO love growing apples but thinning fruit is one job that gets boring..it is only time I wish I wouldn't been so greedy with number of trees.. ;D
Throw them at the wood pigeons!!
Nick you read my mind. ;D ;D ;D
I have been throwing them at the squirrels, cats and blackbird. I am a terrible shot so no animal are injured.
Can I use them to make jelly like crab apples?
Do you make jams? You can use the little apples to make your own fruit pectin.
Wash the apples and chop them. As yours are so little, halving them will be fine. Put the whole kaboodle, pips, skin and all, into a non-reactive saucepan.
For every pound of apples, add three-quarters of a pint of water.
Bring this to the boil, then simmer gently for 40 mins till the apples have gone to pulp.
Strain the pulp through a jelly bag.
Now you need to test to see how strong the pectin is in your witches' brew. :)
Drop a teaspoon of the apple mix into a cup or bowl. Add three teaspoons of methylated spirit. Swirl them around for a few moments, then pour off the meths. If the apple mix has clotted into one lump, it's good to go; if it's formed several small clots, it needs more cooking. Simmer for 10 mins longer, then test again. PLEASE DO NOT EAT THE METHS-TREATED PECTIN! :-X
I freeze the fruit pectin in ice-cube trays for use whenever I'm making jam with low-pectin fruit (strawbs spring to mind, looking at the big bowl I picked today :P)
When you use it, it's a bit how-long-is-a-piece-of-string -ish, as fruit pectin levels vary considerably. But I usually find a quarter-pint or a bit more will sort out 4lb of low-pectin jam fruit.
Poss not as fun as lobbing apples at marauding pigeons / magpies / parakeets, but maybe better for luvverly jam and scones?
Many thanks for that triffid. There just had to be a good use for them.
Quote from: Digeroo on June 10, 2011, 07:31:23
,,, There just had to be a good use for them.
I think the only things I've yet to find a use for from the lottie are slugs, mozzies and horseflies... ;D
There is an old use for them - verjuice.
This is a sour liquid extracted from unripe fruit - apples and grapes are the only ones I've heard of (pears are probably too dry, and fruits that are very astringent when unripe would be useless).
It was (still is) used as a salad dressing in place of lemon juice, and John Evelyn (C17 diarist and food writer) actually preferred it in some recipes.
Worth a try - it was flavour-of-the-month for a while during Evelyn's recent centenary, so those of you who dine at fashion-victim restaurants will probably have already tasted it.
Actually it's quite good, and adds something to the taste - though if I was going all hoity-toity-foodie I'd say I prefer sour pomegranate juice (pretentious - moi?) ;D.
Cheers
I have a great use for mozzies. They attract bats and I love watching them swoop over the lottie or circling round the garden. And slugs are great for attracting hedgehogs. but I will pass on the horseflies.
I suppose I was too worried by the poem about green apples.
There was an old lady from Ryde
Who aite a green apple the died
The apple fermented inside the lamented
And turned into cider inside her inside.