Apple season is officially upon us here at Patriot Street Homestead, and apparently I decided to welcome it with 60 pounds of apples.
Yes. You read that right.
Sixty. Pounds. Of. Apples.
Normally, we have an apple tree right here on our property that produces an abundance of apples. Some years, it feels like we can’t pick them fast enough, but our poor tree desperately needed some attention, so this year we gave it a pretty heavy pruning.
It was absolutely necessary for the health of the tree…but it also means we’re getting exactly zero apples from it this year.
Thankfully, this is where our co-op comes in!
I recently picked up 60 pounds of beautiful apples: a mixture of Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, and Gala. Now my kitchen is officially entering apple-processing season.
And I have plans for every last one of them.
What Do You Do With 60 Pounds of Apples?
That’s the question, isn’t it?
Apples are one of my favorite fruits to preserve because there are so many different things you can do with them. They can become snacks, desserts, pantry staples, baking ingredients, and quick additions to meals throughout the year.
My current plan for this giant apple haul includes:
- Freeze-dried apples
- Dehydrated apples
- Homemade applesauce
- Canned apple pie filling
And depending on how far 60 pounds actually gets me, I may come up with a few other ideas along the way.
I’ll be sharing the recipes and step-by-step instructions as I make each one, so consider this the official beginning of apple season at Patriot Street Homestead.
Freeze-Dried Apples
One of the first things I’ll be doing is loading up the freeze dryer with apple slices.
Freeze-dried apples make such an easy snack to keep on hand. They’re light, crunchy, naturally sweet, and perfect for grabbing straight from the jar. They’re also a great way to preserve apples without taking up valuable freezer space, which is always a win.
Our freezer has enough going on already.
I’ll be sharing a full post soon about how I prepare and freeze-dry our apples, along with how I store them once they’re finished.
Coming Soon: How to Freeze Dry Apples
Dehydrated Apple Slices
Some of these apples will also be heading into the dehydrator.
Dehydrated apple slices are another simple way to preserve a big harvest, and they make an easy snack throughout the fall and winter.
Getting relatively even slices helps everything dry at the same rate, so this is also a great time to pull out a mandolin or vegetable slicer rather than slicing 60 pounds of apples by hand.
Because I like my fingers where they are, I’ll also be using the safety guard.
Once I’ve made a batch, I’ll share exactly how I dehydrated and stored them.
Homemade Applesauce
Of course, you can’t have apple season without making applesauce.
Homemade applesauce is one of those simple pantry staples that’s worth making when apples are plentiful. It can be eaten straight from the jar, served alongside dinner, packed with lunches, used in baking, or warmed up with a little cinnamon.
I’ll be making a big batch and canning it so we can enjoy it long after apple season is over.
And one of the things I love about having several apple varieties is that combining different apples can give homemade applesauce so much more flavor than using just one kind.
Homemade Applesauce for Canning
Canned Apple Pie Filling
This may be the one I’m most excited about.
I LOVE having jars of homemade apple pie filling sitting on the pantry shelf.
Apple pie, apple crisp, cobbler, or a quick dessert suddenly becomes a whole lot easier when most of the work was already done during apple season.
I’ll be canning some of our apples specifically for pie filling and sharing the recipe and complete process in a separate post.
Homemade Apple Pie Filling for Canning
More Ways to Use an Abundance of Apples
If you find yourself staring at boxes of apples wondering what on earth you’re going to do with all of them, there are plenty of options beyond what I’m making this year.
You could also make:
- Apple butter
- Apple cider
- Apple jelly
- Apple crisp
- Apple bread or muffins
- Baked apples
- Apple chips
- Freezer apple pie filling
- Frozen apple slices for baking
- Apple scrap vinegar
And, of course, you can simply eat them fresh.
Honeycrisp apples don’t tend to have a very long life expectancy in this house anyway.
Don’t Throw Away Those Apple Scraps
One thing I love about processing large amounts of produce is finding ways to use as much of it as possible.
If you’re peeling and coring a mountain of apples, don’t automatically assume all those scraps need to go straight into the trash.
Depending on what you’re making, apple peels and cores can be used for things like apple scrap vinegar or jelly. And anything I’m not able to use can head out to the animals or compost rather than going to waste.
When you’re processing 60 pounds, that’s a lot of scraps!
Apple Season Is Just Getting Started
Sixty pounds of apples currently sounds like a wonderful fall blessing.
Ask me again when I’ve been peeling apples for three days and every surface in my kitchen is sticky.
This really is one of my favorite parts of the season. I enjoy looking at what is abundant right now and figuring out how to preserve it for the months ahead.
Our own apple tree may be taking the year off after its much-needed haircut, but thanks to our co-op, we certainly aren’t missing out on apple season.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be working my way through our Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, and Gala apples and sharing the recipes and preservation methods right here on the blog.
Freeze-dried, dehydrated, sauced, canned…these 60 pounds of apples are about to be very busy.
And so am I.
Happy apple season,
Eliza
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1
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