Apples

Apples are one of the oldest known fruits.  The earlier, uncultivated ones probably resembled wild crab apples, the first to be cultivated by man from which many varieties have been bred.  There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples!

  Apples are ready for eating when the stalk comes away easily, with a slight twist, from the branch and the pips have ripened from white to brown.  If they are to be stored it is essential to judge the right time to pick as under-ripe fruit will shrivel and be bitter while over-ripe fruit will quickly decay.  Choose blemish-free apples with the stalk still attached for storing.  Wrap each individually in squares of newspaper to check rotting from spreading if one should start to decay.  Store in single layers and slightly apart in a cool, dark place.  We blacked out the larder last year and ours kept for a good three months into the new year.  Too dry an atmosphere will cause the apples to become woolly in texture and shrivel.  Cookers keep the longest. 

  Windfalls are ideal for making chutneys and jams or for making apple sauce.  The apple sauce freezes well and chutney will keep for up to a year in a cool larder.  Apples provide the basis for many traditional and delicious desserts and puddings such as; apple pie, strudel, crumble, eve's pudding, charlottes and many more.  They are also wonderful eaten baked whole in their skins, maybe stuffed with sugar, cinnamon and raisins, or stewed and served with hot custard.  

  Apples have a high pectin content which makes them excellent for jams and jellies.  Their flavour is not particularly strong so they can be combined with other fruits which are low in pectin to give a better set.