Monday, October 13, 2008

Jane: Apple Season

My neighbor Ann gave me a big bag of apples this weekend, so I'm making applesauce. It's a great way to use windfalls and otherwise "unsprayed" free apples. You can just chop out the bruises and codling moth larvae tracks and use the rest. I found a recipe to make it in the crock pot so that's what I'm doing. It'll make the whole house smell great!

It's not really a recipe, more like instructions: 10 apples, chopped and 1/2 c. H2O in a crockpot on low for 4-6 hours. They say to add sugar 3/4 c. at the end and cinnamon as you serve. I don't think I'll need sugar, and I'll add a cinnamon stick, too.

The apples are really nice ones, from a century farm (the farm where Steve is building the Easter Island head--Ann is Steve's wife). The apples are dark, dark red, almost purple, which doesn't really show in this photo. They have Delicious-type bumps on the blossom end, but they're more round in shape. They're hard like Delicious, but much more tangy and flavorful. They kept their shape so well that when I made applesauce with them last week, I had to mash them a bit. With a potato masher.

I'd love to know the variety. They seem to be resistant to disease.

I saved out a half dozen of the big ones. My plan is to make a pie with those tomorrow.