APPLE DAY!
The very first crop of apples from our little tree in the garden and I'm so excited. I should have posted on the pear tree, but they all dropped off and had to be processed and frozen. Mr. found the final five lying in the undergrowth yesterday.
Altogether we had about 18 pears, so not bad.
In the past, our little apple tree has produced only two to three apples that never ripened properly and fell off the tree before we could pick them. It's meant to be a Falstaff, an apple variety I tried at the Groves Nursery Apple Day in Bridport some years ago. They were sweet, crisp and juicy, but the taste of our apples just doesn't match that memory. I think this may be another variety or I have memory failure, a more likely explanation! We bought the tree at Wells market for £15.00, as well as a quince tree. The quince hasn't produced yet, but these trees are only three years old, so maybe we'll get a quince or two next year.
Mr. found this lovely old crate in our work unit, probably obtained as a container for auction items we purchased, can't remember to be honest, but happy to have it for storing apples.
I read that it's best to wrap each apple in some newspaper in case any spoil. The paper helps prevent the rot spreading to the rest of the apples. We will keep these in the kitchen at the work unit, as it's cool and dark (has no windows) which will be perfect, fingers crossed, for storage. If we find any more apples going begging (some people in the village put out boxes of apples for people to take) we will add them to the crate.
Last year we managed to find some wild apple trees and got a reasonable harvest, which I processed and froze, together with foraged blackberries. We had some lovely crumbles and cakes using this fruit.
There's something very satisfying about foraging for food and this is the season for it. There are crab apple trees beside our allotment, which I will pick and use as a jelly base for some chilli jelly and apple and mint jelly. They just need to fatten up a bit first.
Altogether we had about 18 pears, so not bad.
In the past, our little apple tree has produced only two to three apples that never ripened properly and fell off the tree before we could pick them. It's meant to be a Falstaff, an apple variety I tried at the Groves Nursery Apple Day in Bridport some years ago. They were sweet, crisp and juicy, but the taste of our apples just doesn't match that memory. I think this may be another variety or I have memory failure, a more likely explanation! We bought the tree at Wells market for £15.00, as well as a quince tree. The quince hasn't produced yet, but these trees are only three years old, so maybe we'll get a quince or two next year.
Mr. found this lovely old crate in our work unit, probably obtained as a container for auction items we purchased, can't remember to be honest, but happy to have it for storing apples.
I read that it's best to wrap each apple in some newspaper in case any spoil. The paper helps prevent the rot spreading to the rest of the apples. We will keep these in the kitchen at the work unit, as it's cool and dark (has no windows) which will be perfect, fingers crossed, for storage. If we find any more apples going begging (some people in the village put out boxes of apples for people to take) we will add them to the crate.
There were a few that were a bit manky and these will be made into a Dorset apple cake this week. If we manage to find enough blackberries, a crumble for Sunday. Mr.'s not a fan of sweet things, but he's partial to these two.
Last year we managed to find some wild apple trees and got a reasonable harvest, which I processed and froze, together with foraged blackberries. We had some lovely crumbles and cakes using this fruit.
There's something very satisfying about foraging for food and this is the season for it. There are crab apple trees beside our allotment, which I will pick and use as a jelly base for some chilli jelly and apple and mint jelly. They just need to fatten up a bit first.
Comments
Post a Comment