Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Apple Season and Nature's Free Gift

One of the subtitles of my blog refers to frugal living, yet I've never written any posts on the subject. I'm not sure I have anything to add to the subject that hasn't been written about in countless blog posts, but frugality is a running theme to my life as a retiree. When my husband and I both retired early we were determined to do everything we could to keep the lifestyle we enjoy but to do it on a much smaller income, which meant learning to tighten the budget in every way we can without feeling deprived. The information I found online was so helpful to me and it's also what led me to discovering the world of blogging and the sharing of information online.
One of the hints I read and took to heart was never to waste things and never to pass up any offers of free edibles, so when at times a friend offers me, say, a bushel of peaches or apples I won't say no. And friends do offer, because as one person put it, "I know you'll do something with these" as opposed to their going to waste. Two years ago for instance, I was given a load of apples which made wonderful apple pie filling, but that source is dried up now since the friend that gave them has since acquired a farm-girl daughter-in-law who also likes to cook and can. And I was sorry about that because that apple pie filling was very handy throughout the year! But nature provides if you keep your eyes open and this is what I found:
 Are these not about the ugliest apples ever? They are scabby and misshapen and absolutely organic! They come from a very old apple tree that is growing behind a nineteenth century building on our church property. We use the building as a "mission house," that is, we let missionaries from far off places live there for free when they are in the States as a help to them. The building was once the town poor house in the days when such things existed so I'm pretty certain this apple tree is a nineteenth century tree too. The variety is nothing like any you'd find today. It seems like a kind of russet, is tart-sweet and the texture is a little different in a way I can't describe. I only know of one person who has ever bothered with these apples, a gal living in the mission house a few years ago who made a small batch of applesauce. So I decided to gather a bunch and see what I could do with them since nobody else seems to care about them.
 I made applesauce. Eleven pints of it! I'm a pretty experienced home canner, but I've never done homemade applesauce before and I've learned something the hard way. That stuff is like napalm! To bring it to the boil they want you to, it pops and blubs like hot lava and I have the burns to prove it. Now I know that next time I need to have oven gloves on and an extra long wooden spoon for stirring!
 And I made my apple pie filling, enough for ten pies. I freeze it in individual pie amounts that later can be thawed and thrown into a pie crust before baking. I also made a huge apple crisp, because we are a divided family here. I like apple pie. My spouse likes apple crisp.
 I also learned to really appreciate the amazing gizmo you see pictured above. A girlfriend lent it to me: a peeler-corer-slicer. Even with that helpful tool it took me about eleven hours to get all those apples peeled and prepped because none of them were truly round and all of them had spots that needed cutting out. But without it, I'd still be peeling and slicing and my hands would be crippled. I can foresee an unfrugal purchase in my future!
It was a good day two days' work to get all this done and I guess the point of this story is that there are some great gifts of nature out there, but it takes keeping your eyes open and it takes time and work! Still, it's a great feeling to have these done. There's no way I'll be making ten apple pies this year, but in the past the fillings have been great gifts for friends who are busy and appreciate a shortcut to a nice fresh apple pie themselves. There is more of nature's free gift on that tree, but I think I'm about appled out now and besides those burns need to heal!

8 comments:

  1. I'm frugal by choice - choice so we can have things we want. Garden shops always seem to just open my wallet... But I'm thrifty in so many other ways. Like you I always take any offerings and our family loves going foraging for food.
    I really enjoy apple season and putting away cooked apples for later in year.
    Love Leanne

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    1. I think that's why I enjoy reading your blog Leanne! It is fun to be as self-sufficient as we can!

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  2. What a coincidence-I just made 14 quarts of applesauce for the first time today and logged on to write up a post about it. I had the exact same problem with the exploding sauce. I, instinctively, put up my hand to stop it from spraying all over and, man, it burned my hand! I purchased my apples, but got a really, really good price on a bushel.

    Your crisp looks delicious! I used all my apples making the sauce, but I have over a half gallon of juice left over that I might boil down to cider syrup. I may go back and get a few more bags of apples to freeze some pie filling. What a great idea!

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    1. Oh man, I'm sorry about your burn! Mine were bad enough to blister. I think you will really enjoy having the apple pie filling. It's really handy. I use my favorite apple pie recipe, multiplied by however many pies I plan on and put into a large kettle. It is heated just until the juices begin to thicken, then it is ready for freezing. Later in the pie, it is perfect. I have a friend who likes to freeze hers in bags placed in a pie plate so later, she can just pop the frozen pie shaped filling into a crust and bake. I prefer to freeze it flat and thaw before using.

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  3. We are also retired and I like to read articles on frugality too! We will be buying our apples next week so I will be canning applesauce too. We do have one of those gizmos as you call it but we also like our applesauce lumpy so do not put it through a strainer which takes more time! Not sure if I can find room to squeeze apple pie filling into the freezer since we had bought that quarter of beef! Nancy

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    1. My freezers are almost stuffed full now too Nancy! I don't strain my applesauce, just whiz it through the food processor. Next time I can some though I will definitely use some protection!

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  4. i love apple season. i love baking with apples. i love applesauce. i will make applesauce and apple pie filling,too.
    where do you come from hessen?
    wish you a nice week,
    regina

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    1. Thank you Regina! I was born in Hessen. My mother is from Schlesien and after the war her family settled in Niederbayern. My father is American.

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