Life On and Off an Acreage

In-sights into moving from an Acreage back to Town, plus a few things I find of interest.

Two things that horses are scared about:


1. Things that move
2. Things that don't move




Old enough to be eccentric, but not rich enough

September 3, 2012

2012 Apple Produce

In just 3 months we have gone from flowers to apples to lots of ripe apples! This is exceptional for us as we are in Zone 2 of the gardening divisions. That is, we get winters down to -40C, and have a very short growing season.
We got two of these tubs from one of our 5 apple trees. I wish that I had written down what type of apples these are, because after 8 years of waiting for them to produce more than 10 or so apples, the memory gets fuzzy.
 After 6 hours of peeling, coring, quartering and cooking, I got 16 pints of applesauce. There is still 2/3 of a tub of apples left. I guess that I will cut them up and freeze them for crumbles, or pies during the winter.
 This was amazing in that none were bruised, bug infested or hail damaged. We have had two hail storms go through here but I guess the hail was not large enough to cause damage.

There must be an easier way to process these dudes without peeling with a potato peeler, or coring with a manual push through corer. I would have kept going, but my hands were getting sore.

The best part is that the end result has seen no pesticides, and is 100% organic!

The applesauce is sweet enough that no sugar was needed, just a little cinnamon and nutmeg.

6 comments:

  1. that's awesome, ian! wish i could help you pare and slice up the rest to freeze (like i always did with my mom.) thanks for the memories...

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  2. Being also in Zone 2 I can relate. The only apples I've ever seen grow here are crabapples....and peeling and coring those is just not worth it! It's been a while since I canned applesauce but you've got me wanting to do it too.

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  3. That's so nice to have your own apples! Have you ever used a Victoria Strainer for processing apples? It saves sooo much time. Just wash and quarter the apples. No peeling or coring. Cook them in just a little water, and when they're soft, you put the cooked apples in the top...turn the handle...and your sauce and waste are separated. I use mine for tomato juice as well. It's well worth it! Just sayin'... :)

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  4. This is very good to read! I'm so worried about what I'll find when I get home. I want apples so bad this year since last year was a pretty bad year too because frost got the blossoms. I know this doesn't mean I'll have apples at home, but it still makes me feel better LOL. Your applesauce looks awesome!

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  5. Ok, that looks delicious. What an amazing harvest! (I'm a little delayed catching up on posts.) I think next year will be the the year I learn to can. All the great photos of what people are storing away are so inspirational.

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