The apple trees on our land provide us with tiny apples of varied flavor. We mostly munch the yummy ones as they ripen, and leave the bitter ones for the beasts, and that's that. This year was a gloriously productive year for apples, but our apples ripened early, and I was so swamped with other things that I never turned any into sauce.
I kicked myself for this, so when a friend offered the chance to buy 3 bushels of apples at $7.00 a pop, I jumped on it, thinking, "Hurrah! We'll have applesauce after all!" I brought them home from church with joy.
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And then my mom gave me a massive box of apples from my brother's trees. Brimful of joy!
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And then a neighbor dropped off a bag of apples from her church because "We're the neediest people she knows." (HA!) Joy and amusement mingled!
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And then the girls picked some apples that were going to waste from my aunt's and uncle's trees. SO much joy!
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And then before the second snowfall, the girls and I picked more free apples from those same dripping trees. BECAUSE I LOVE FREE APPLES! YIPPEE!
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As grateful as I remain for this bountiful provision, and as idyllic as the following pictures look, I am now thoroughly sick of making applesauce.
We've canned about 120 quarts so far, with more to go, and the dehydrator is whirring, too. The kitchen floor hasn't been mopped in I-don't-know-how-long, and there are at least several quarts of dried applesauce spread there for our sneakers to stick to ('cause there ain't NO way any of us are walking barefoot in the kitchen these days).
I was going to take a picture of the kitchen to show reality, but
1. I just can't bear to document it.
and
2. If I posted it in a public place, my children might be in danger of being removed by Those Who (Think They) Know Better.
Instead, here's a sparkling picture of the first 66 quarts of applesauce. I'll leave the surrounding nuclear zone, which I have deliberately not included, to your imaginations. (And however ample your imagination is, I bet you ten dollars it's not colorful enough to picture the truth outside the frame. Thank goodness.)
Wheee! A lotta applesauce! Looks like really tasty applesauce, too! Justin and Evan were quite industrious this year canning applesauce using apples from a little tree on our Grandma's property in Greene. The apples are green, mottled ones with white flesh, and they don't have a strong flavor. The applesauce didn't have quite the zing that applesauce from our old trees did, and it turned out a greenish-yellowish color, so they actually added a bit of red food coloring to make it "look right"! It was still tasty, though.
ReplyDeleteThis year seems like it was such a bumper year for apples, and I was sad to see so many apples layering roadsides where trees dropped them, and they just went to waste.
Holy applesauce! That is a TON of applesauce! Soooo....I am guessing you are not interested in any bushels of Crispin apples later in the season? I may have ordered you two because I had to make a split-second decision while on the phone with my friend. (No biggie though- we can just use them or pass them on to someone else if you prefer.)
ReplyDeleteAnd- you got a dehydrator! YAY! I know you've wanted one of them for a while now. Apple chips are so good- and are delicious when crumpled on top of oatmeal. ;-)
Cadie,
ReplyDeleteIt was, indeed! I love picturing Evan and Justin carefully adding food coloring. Ha! Sometimes I add some lemon juice to applesauce, too, if the apples aren't particularly tasty. It's cheating, but it does the trick!
Rebecca,
If it's later in the season, I'll probably take them! We don't buy apples, so if these are gone or close to it, than I'll be happy to have more.
My mom found a dehydrator for me at a rummage sale. Five bucks, and it was mine! We are really enjoying it.