Melondy Phillips
Staff Writer
“Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread.” Pembroshire – 1866
“Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only my God can count the apples in a seed.” Author Unknown
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” Proverbs
Apples are a very basic food source around the world and can be used in many dishes.
Between fresh, canned, frozen, dried and the juice, the USDA reported that, in 2021, Americans consumed more than 26 pounds of apples per person. Nearly 15 pounds of that was in juice form.
With that being said, it’s harvest time –
We love apples – apple pie, apple bread, apple sauce, apple cider, sliced apples, apple fruit leathers, etc. But there are four main ways we use apples: pie filling, dried, cider and sauce. This is a brief description of what I do with apples, not a how-to for canning.
Each form of processed apple has specific harvest requirements. When making sliced apples for drying or canning, I prefer handpicking the prettiest, most well-formed, non-blemished ones. Green and yellow varieties are preferred for pie filling while reds and yellows are best for dried snacks.
Pretty, well-formed fruit runs smoothly through the apple peeler. Since this is the pickiest batch, I set up everything I will need for processing this group first and then I harvest the apples. Being set up prior to harvesting means the apples are fresh and without bruising.
The apples are cleaned, placed into the strainer, and then put through the apple peeler. The peel and cores can be saved and used for multiple applications, including jelly, making pectin, or feeding to the chickens. The prettiest apples are sliced into whole or half rings for dehydrating and freeze drying. They are placed into a diluted pineapple juice bath to prevent them from browning – citric acid, lemon juice, honey, vinegar or salt can also be used. The ones chosen for freeze drying are spread out on trays, which are then placed into the freezer. The following day, the frozen trays are processed through the freeze drier. Freeze dried apples absorb moisture from the air very easily so as soon as they are completed, they are quickly moved into vacuum sealed containers. Apples for the dehydrator are added to the trays as they are cut and soaked. The dehydrator is turned on when the first tray that is filled; more trays are added throughout the day.
Any apples that need spots cut out are cut into quarters for pie filling. The pieces are immediately placed into the diluted pineapple juice bath while they wait for the filling base to be made. Once the filling base is made, the apple pieces are thoroughly mixed into the base and then transferred into jars for canning.
Cold pressed cider is the next batch of apples I process. These apples do not need to be perfect and can be of any variety. The only requisite is that they are handpicked from the tree and not off the ground. Even though the apples are washed prior to processing them, it’s an extra precaution I like to take to help prevent certain molds and bacteria from getting into the cider. The easiest time I have had with cold pressing apples was to first run them through the food processor with the smallest shredding plate. This creates more surface area for the juices to start flowing. Chopping them in a mixer will also work, the finer the better. I even saw one video where a guy bought a brand-new garbage disposal for this very purpose and it worked great.
I press all the apples for cider before I start to can them, even if there will be multiple batches to process. This mixes all the apple varieties and flavors into a single batch and allows me to know how much sugar to add, if any, to the batch. This year’s apples were juicy and sweet, so I only needed to add about a half cup of sugar to four gallons of cider. Prior to canning, I pulled off some for us to drink fresh. The rest was heated for canning.
The last group of apples, the ones for sauce, can be picked from the tree or picked up off the ground. Since the sauce is cooked, the probability of containments surviving the process is very low. Even so, all the apples are thoroughly washed and any bad spots removed. This process is great for gleaned apples.
Depending on the size of the apples, they are cut into quarters. The peels and cores are used when making sauce; yes, I even leave in the seeds. All the cut apples are placed into a very large pot, or slow cooker, with about one to two quarts of water added. I use as little water as possible since it is only needed to keep the apples from sticking or burning when they first start to cook. As the apples heat up, they begin to release their own natural juices. Adding too much water could result in a very thin apple sauce. The apples are slowly cooked until they are all very soft and mushy. The apple mush is run through a sieve or mill of some sort. This removes the peels, stems and seeds. I add sugar, if needed, to the whole batch after it is milled. From there, the sauce is ready to can.
There is usually a large pile of peelings and cores left over once all of this is finished. These can be simmered and strained for making jelly or pectin. Lastly, all the apple remnants make their way to the chickens, that give us an abundance of eggs in exchange, or to the compost pile, which feeds the garden the following year.
