Apples and the crisp fall days of October seem to go hand-in-hand and that is no surprise since this is the month that apples are harvested. Drive by an apple orchard and you can smell the tangy, sweet odor of apples in the air. Often the smell is so strong you can literally taste the apples without taking a bite. These are the apples you want to use in fresh apple recipes, to preserve and the ones that have the most health benefits.
Apples are high in antixodents, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals. The fresher they are, the better they are for you because as apples age their nutrient value decreases just like other fresh fruits and vegetables. This is why growing your own or driving to a pick-your-own apple orchard is better than buying apples that are already picked.
The ways to use fresh apples are endless. Make homemade apple pie or apple crisp. Fry apples or bake them. Make applesauce, apple cider or simply eat them fresh. Don’t forget to put some up for winter use. Apples keep well in a root cellar, but if you don’t have one, can them, dehydrate them or freeze them. Whatever you do, don’t miss out on your chance to stock up on plenty of fresh apples.
Here are some great recipes to use fresh apples in. Below the recipes you will find instructions on how to preserve apples for winter use.
Apple Pie
Everyone loves apple pie – and the best apple pie is made from scratch with fresh apples, high quality cane sugar and lots of nutmeg and cinnamon. Sometimes I make my crust from scratch and sometimes I buy a pre-made crust, it really just depends on the mood I am in. Here is my favorite apple pie recipe. If you have an abundance of apples, you can make extra filling and can it. This is a real time saver during the holidays or when unexpected company arrives.
6 cups apples – use a variety of apples
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon – I use the liquid cinnamon I make myself
Dash freshly grated nutmeg
Dash ground sea salt
2 tablespoons real butter
Peel the apples if you wish.
Slice the apples into quarters and remove the core.
Place the apple slices and the sugar into a stainless steel pan.
Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. This usually takes between 5 and 10 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat.
Add in the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir well.
Pour the apple mixture into the pie crust making sure to throughly scrape the sides of the pan.
Dot the top of the apples with butter and sprinkle a dusting of powdered cinnamon on top.
Cover the outer edges of the pie with aluminum foil or a pan designed to keep pie crust from burning.
Set the pie on a cookie sheet, then place it in the oven.
Bake in a 400 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes.
Apple Crisp
To make an apple crisp, follow the instructions above for the pie, but top it with this crumb topping before baking it.
1/2 cup maple sugar – or brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt
4 tablespoons real butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Combine the sugar, flour and sea salt in a large bowl.
Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry cutter. (For those who do not know, cutting in simply means pressing the butter into the dry mixture until it is the size of small peas. It just breaks the butter up into tiny pieces and coats it with the mixture.)
Once the butter and flour mixture is the size of small peas, add the chopped nuts and mix well.
Using your hands, spread this mixture over the top of the apple pie.
Fried Apples
These fried apples are an ideal side dish for pork recipes. You can use an alternative sweetener and light butter if you prefer.
1 tablespoon real butter – I make my own butter using cream from our goats
9 apples, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges – again, using a variety of apples gives this a different taste.
1/2 teaspoon powdered cinnamon – I add more to suit my tastes
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Melt butter and brown sugar in a skillet.
Add cinnamon and apples.
Bring the mixture to a boil while constantly stirring.
Turn the heat down so the mixture continues to simmer.
Put a lid on the skillet.
Allow the apples to cook at a simmer for 30 minutes. Make sure to stir them occasionally.
Storing Apples In A Root Cellar
Storing apples in a root cellar is simple compared to the other methods of storage. The reason for this is because you store them whole, just like you picked them. It is important to check on them periodically, because as they say, one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel.
Pack apples in between layers of straw and store at 31 degrees Fahrenheit. Store them in tight lidded barrels that are mouse-proof. Some people store them in the open in a single layer and others put them inside of plastic bags that they have poked holes in.
Once you find a method that works for you, it is best to stick to it.
How To Can Apples
I prefer to can apples even though it is more work in the beginning. I have canned them with and without peels. Most people peel theirs before canning, but it is really up to you what you do. If you don’t mind the peels, don’t bother removing them.
There are many recipes for canning apples and I think I have tried them all, however, a friend said to me one day that canning apples in a plain syrup was the best way because they can be used for anything. I thought about this and decided she was right. Once you can apples for a specific purpose they may have an ingredient in them that makes them unsuitable for another use, so now I can all my apples using a light syrup. Here is my recipe.
2 1/4 cups cane sugar
5 cups of water
Combine sugar and water in a stainless steel pan.
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Once the sugar is dissolved, reduce the heat to low so the syrup remains warm.
Fill clean, sterilized canning jars with apple quarters. Be sure to run your fingers around the tops of the jars before using them to check for tiny nicks. If you find any, those jars are no longer useful for canning.
Cover the apples with the water and sugar syrup you just made. Leave 1/2 inch air space at the top of the jar.
Wipe the top and edges of the jar with a clean, damp cloth.
Put a clean, sterilized, new lid on the jar, add the band and screw it down until it is fingertip tight.
Place the jars in a cold pack canner filled with boiling water.
Process both pints and quarts for 20 minutes.
Turn the heat off under the canning pot once the 20 minutes is up.
Remove the lid, but allow the jars to sit under the water for 5 minutes longer.
Carefully remove the jars. Set them aside and allow them to cool overnight.
Remove the bands and check the seals by gently prying them with your fingertips.
If the jars are sealed, replace the bands, label and store in a cool, dark, dry place.
If the jars are not sealed you can either select a new lid and attempt to seal the jars again or put the food into your refrigerator and use it up.
How To Dehydrate Apples
Dehydrated apples make great snacks. They are good to put in cereal as well. I have not tried to re-hydrate them to use in any recipes, but I do know it is possible. Here is how I dehydrate apple slices.
Wash, peel and core apples.
Slice the apples into 1/4 inch thick slices.
Put the apple slices into an citric acid mixture. This helps prevent discoloring and helps preserve the fruit. Citric acid is available in most grocery stores or places where they sell canning or dehydrating supplies.
Dry at 150 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 to 3 hours. The time varies considerably, so check the apples periodically.
When they easily break in half, they are done. Turn the dehydrator off. Allow the apples to cool. Pack into an airtight container if possible. If not, put them in a canning jar in a cabinet or into a freezer bag and freeze them.
How To Freeze Apples
Freezing is the next best thing to canning when it comes to having something on hand that is fairly quick to use. The bad thing about freezing is you should thaw the food before using it, although sometimes you can bypass that step.
Wash, core and quarter apples.
Soak them in citric acid as you work.
Place the apples in boiling water for 2 minutes.
Remove the apples and place them in ice water. Gently stir the apples to help cool them.
Once the apples are cool, remove them and lay them out on paper towels placed over cloth towels to drain.
Once the apples are dry, put them into freezer bags, seal, label and place in the freezer.
Filed under Fruit Recipes by on Oct 13th, 2011. Comment. 
Welcome to the favorite homemade meals photo day! This is a new part of the blog that will appear on the homepage, experimentalhomesteader.com, under featured posts. It allows you, the reader, to post photos you have taken of your favorite homemade meals and will re-occur on the 18th day of every month.
Please post photos that you have taken – not ones you have come across on the internet.
The program that we will use for this is Mister Linky.
So – let’s see all those photos! Go ahead and show off your culinary expertise! I’m looking forward to it. Let me get the ball rolling with a photo of one of my favorite meals.
Pineapple Pecan Maraschino Cherry Upside Down Cake – click here for the recipe.
Filed under Favorite Homemade Meals Photo Day Archive by on Oct 18th, 2011. Comment.
Filed under Cheesemaking, Cow Cheese, Goat Cheese, Sheep Cheese by on Oct 24th, 2011. 1 Comment.
Learn how to make crackers in your own kitchen by watching this video. This is a great way to make artisan crackers – or if you prefer, plain old saltines.
Filed under Homemade Crackers by on Oct 25th, 2011. Comment.
Rustic Herbal Crackers. The recipe for this particular cracker came from Jim Long's book "Easy Homemade Crackers Using Herbs."
Making your own crackers is an enjoyable task for the entire family. Nothing beats fresh baked crackers and best of all, you know what is in them. You can make artisan crackers or a plain saltine cracker. The recipe presented here will be for a plain saltine cracker. Experiment with this recipe by adding a variety of herbs or spices and see what unique crackers you can come up with.
To make the cracker dough mix four cups flour, one teaspoon baking powder together in a bowl. Cut in three-quarters cup of lard. When mixture looks like tiny peas, add in one and one-thirds cup milk. Blend well.
Form the ball into a dough and cut into four equal size pieces. Rough the dough out until it is thin. You can do this on a cookie sheet if you like. Cut the crackers with a knife, pizza cutter, etc. into normal cracker sized pieces. Prick each cracker four times with the tines of a fork. Add salt, herbs or other items to the top of the crackers.
Bake the crackers at 375 degrees for eight to ten minutes. They should be golden brown when done and look similar to store bought saltine crackers.
This recipe, depending on how you thin you roll the dough and how you cut the crackers, should yield about the same amount of crackers as a store bought box of crackers.
Click here to view a video that shows another cracker recipe that uses a wide variety of herbs and spices.
Filed under Homemade Crackers by on Oct 25th, 2011. Comment.
Fresh butter spread on the top of the bread when it first comes out of the oven keeps the crust from getting too crunchy.
Lavender Bread Recipe
Makes 1 loaf
1 teaspoon dry yeast
2 ½ cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon dry milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons dried lavender flowers
Grease your bread pan or as an alternative, coat the bottom of the pan with whole flax seeds.
Combine the yeast, warm water and sugar in a large bowl or you can put it into a bread machine. If you are using a bowl, stir well and then let the mixture stand about five minutes so the yeast can begin working.
Combine the dry milk, salt, lavender and butter in a large bowl and mix well. Begin adding the yeast mixture alternating it with flour until it becomes a soft dough.
Turn dough onto floured surface and knead for about 8 minutes until the dough is elastic and feels somewhat like a baby’s bottom. Place dough in greased bowl making sure to turn the dough to coat all sides with the grease. Cover with paper towel or a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place for an hour.
If you are using a bread machine, simply combine all of the ingredients and turn the machine on. You can bake the bread in the bread machine or remove it and bake it in a pan.
When the dough is ready, fill the greased pan about half way with the dough. Allow the dough to rise for about an hour. Bake the bread in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F or until it is done. If you are having problems getting your bread to rise, set the pan on a heating pad turned on low heat or you can turn off the oven, add a pan of water to the bottom rack of the oven and set your bread on the top rack.
Filed under Bread Recipes by on Oct 26th, 2011. Comment.
Lindera benzoin bush ready for fall planting.
Spicebush, botanically known as Lindera benzoin, is a deciduous shrub that is native to many parts of the United States and is a wonderful spice to add to ice cream recipes. It is often grown in home gardens for the aromatic yellow-green flowers that bloom in early spring or the berries that are attractive to birds. The Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly feeds on the aromatic leaves of this shrub.
The dried berries are often substituted for allspice. In order to get berries, you will need both a male and female plant. Once you get berries, you may wonder, other than using them as an allspice substitute, what you can do with them. Here is a recipe for ice cream.
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup honey
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon ground spicebush berries
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
In a stainless steel saucepan, over medium-low heat, bring one cup of cream, honey and salt to a simmer. Stir constantly until the honey and salt melt. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the mixture into a bowl.
Whisk in the remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture into a covered bowl. Refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.
When you are ready to proceed, pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions. Be sure to store your finished ice cream in a covered dish in the freezer.
Filed under Frozen Desserts, Ice Creams by on Oct 26th, 2011. 2 Comments.
Whitney Baker enjoying a Halloween style limeaid!
Check out this awesome video that shows how to make a Halloween party drink with limes, drink food coloring, basil and ginger ale! Use items from your own garden to make the drink! Add a touch of Halloween decor to your homemade drinks using Martha Stewart labels and party bags!
Filed under Herbal Beverages by on Oct 26th, 2011. Comment.
