Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Apple Season

 

This week has been so beautiful - the air is dry and crisp, the skies are blue and there is just the beginning of a chill in the morning. Acorns are dropping from trees and local orchards are producing bumper crops of gorgeous apples.

As a little girl I helped my grandmother can the bounty of her garden. My mom dabbled in canning for a while also. But I hadn't done any canning for myself until this year after seeing so many beautiful, locally-grown apples.

Although I haven't yet delved into the world of pressure canning, I have achieved relative success with water bath canning tomatoes, pickles and apples (I use the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving). 

I always choose organic apples after discovering on the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen list that nearly all apples are heavily contaminated with pesticides. Even so, a thorough washing is important.


A mechanical apple peeler made quick work of the peels and after the canning process was complete I ended up with 7 quarts of chopped apples, all ready to be turned into easy holiday tarts later this year. 



I saved the peels and cores to make apple cider vinegar using this recipe

With the cool weather I've been knitting up a stack of accessories, some to become patterns eventually. One project I finished this past spring will be published in an Interweave book in 2016. As always, I'll give first notice here.

Thanks for stopping by today, I wish you a week of happy stitching! 



3 comments:

  1. I love apple season! I just got some Honeycrisps (organic too, I also go by the Dirty Dozen site for buying organic) and they were juicy and crunchy and just perfect. I'm sure your canned apples will taste amazing in tarts later on! :)

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  2. We are buying in smaller quantities (5 - 10 pounds), making a few pints of the best apple butter in the crock pot every week. I love apple season.
    Thanks for the ACV link, I never thought to try making my own.

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  3. Nell and Lina, thank you! Apple butter sounds wonderful, I will have to try making some!

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