The Top 5 Ways We Preserve Apples in the Fall
My family has been preserving apples for many generations. I grew up with making apple sauce and sometimes we dehydrated our apples. Since then, my husband and I have found many other ways we love to preserve fresh apples in the fall season. These are the top 5 ways that we preserve apples.
Apple Season is a Nice Entry To Fall
We love going apple picking in the fall. Depending on the weather, it can be a nice long season that lasts from August to October, making the opportunities to pick apples and use them in recipes abundant.
We used to live in Washington state, known for its apples. There were many opportunities for us to visit a u-pick. We tend to choose a variety of apples and like to mix sweet and crisp varieties when we make any of the following recipes. Now we live in Wisconsin where the apple varieties are also nice and varied.
You can also pick out your favorite apples to use in any of the recipes. I do not tend to buy Granny Smith nor any real soft varieties. Applesauce tends to be made with what we have, though. Some years it is very sweet with grade A apples, while other years we get what we get and add a bit of sweetener.
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Our Top 5 Ways to Preserve Apples
Apple Sauce
Like I said above, we have been canning apple sauce as a family since I was a young girl. We had a funky tree that produced mediocre apples what we added to some nicer ones from a store. It is an easy process that anyone can do with a variety of supplies.
In the most simple form, you need a small knife and a big pot to boil down the apples.
Since we process a lot and can it also, we use a food strainer and all the canning supplies needed to can the apple sauce. We do freeze it sometimes too, though.
I haven’t written up the way that I make our sauce step by step, but here is a nice tutorial from Practical Self Reliance. She gives a few ways to make it depending on what tools you have on hand.
Apple Pie Filling
We have been making this recipe for years and love to have it on hand when we need a quick dessert. We can it, but it can also be frozen. Our favorite recipe is here.
Apple Scrap Vinegar
Apple scrap vinegar is a natural next step after making apple sauce or apple pie filling. You use the scraps (cores and peels) to make the apple scrap vinegar to use a few months later. See how we do it here.
Dehydrated Apple Chips
Our kids love to eat dehydrated apples either plain or with a bit of cinnamon. They are an easy snack to prepare with a food dehydrator and keep for a few months (but are usually eaten up pretty quickly around here). Here is a great tutorial on how to dehydrate using several different methods. When we preserve apples this way, they disappear quickly.
Cold Storage for Long Term Fresh Eating
If you purchase the right type of apples, they will last a long time in storage. Apples that are ready for u-pick in the orchard a bit later in the season are the types you want to pick for storage. Some are even better tasting after a few months in cold storage. Some of the best types of apples for long term storage are not usually found in the grocery store, but in private or u-pick orchards. See what you can find and maybe consider adding some storage apples to your own orchard in the future. Here is how we are planning our future orchard. This is the most simple way to preserve apples.
Here are a few great storage apples you can keep an eye out for: Cox’s Orange Pippin, Enterprise, Fuji, Newton Pippin, Golden Russet, Northern Spy, Pink Lady, and Winesap. Even better if you can get them from a local farm our u-pick so you know they are really fresh.
It is best to use an extra refrigerator or a cool cellar to store you extra apples for the longest storage. Check on them periodically to make sure they are still good and crispy and not getting too soft or wrinkly. Try to eat them up before they do. But if you find them a bit beyond what you want for a fresh eating apple, you can make a quick apple sauce or cobbler.
Some people wrap each apple individually in paper and place in sawdust. There are many ways I have read, but as we are always so busy in this time of year with so much produce, we have only stored in the fridge or in boxes. I am sure that there are ways to get them to keep just a bit longer in the cellar if we tried it out.
What Other Ways Do You Enjoy Preserving Your Fall Apples?
I would love to hear if you have other great ways you preserve apples in the fall.
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