Stewed apples

[Bloden]

It's that time of year again and my neighbour has very kindly given me a big bag of cooking apples from his orchard. 🙂

Some advice, plz, cooks: how does one stew apples (destined for the freezer, to be enjoyed throughout the winter) and how little sugar can I get away with to take away the sharpness?

I don't want to use sweeteners, btw, cos they make my taste buds curl up and sulk.🙂

 

[grovesy]

Sorry not much help as I don't mind cooking apples! I also like them baked!

 

[Vicsetter]

I've frozen about 10kg from my tree this year (bramleys). I used this recipe:
1kg apples (peel, core and slice and put into lemon juice (bottled lemon juice)
2 cups water
1 cup sugar ( I used Splenda but if you don't like sweetener then you will have to use sugar)
1/4 cup cornflour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg

bring everything except apples to a slow boil and boil for 2 mins stirring,
add apples and boil for 6-8 minutes stirring.

When cooled I put into vacuum bags and sealed them and froze them
I have use them defrosted into pie case and topped with shortcrust pastry. Cooked at 190 for about 30 mins the apples were completely fallen

 

[KateR]

I like Splenda. It's the nearest tasting sweetener to sugar that I've come across. I honestly can't tell the difference and it cooks well.

 

[Bloden]

I've frozen about 10kg from my tree this year (bramleys). I used this recipe:
1kg apples (peel, core and slice and put into lemon juice (bottled lemon juice)
2 cups water
1 cup sugar ( I used Splenda but if you don't like sweetener then you will have to use sugar)
1/4 cup cornflour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg

bring everything except apples to a slow boil and boil for 2 mins stirring,
add apples and boil for 6-8 minutes stirring.

When cooled I put into vacuum bags and sealed them and froze them
I have use them defrosted into pie case and topped with shortcrust pastry. Cooked at 190 for about 30 mins the apples were completely fallen

Thanks, Vicsetter. I'll give it a go.😛

 

[Martin Canty]

Reminds me of a story from when my parents were recently married....

Dad was a dried fruit importer & always had samples that he brought home, Mum decided to bake him an apple pie using some of the dried apples..... The say down to dinner & Dad tucked into his apple pie with great gusto & when he finished declared it delicious but did make a small suggestion that Mum could soak the apples first next time😱

 

[Dave W]

You may find that you can store apples without freezing. We have a tree that produces a massive crop of nice eating apples (Tydemans Early Worcester) and we store a few boxes of them in the garage and they usually last us until into February. We use them both cooked and eaten raw.
We also dehydrate a few dusted with cinamon and store in bags as they make nice nibbles, though I now have to be careful as to how many dried slices I eat as the sugar content is concentrated.
Dehydrating is a great way to preserve fruit and veg as the cellular structure isn't destroyed as it can be when freezing and dehyrated produce takes up very little space, lasts longer than frozen food and doesn't take up space in the freezer that could be used for other stuff. We dry - beans, peas, carrots, strawberries, tomatoes, apples and they keep us going over winter when we've little fresh veg in the garden.

 

[weecee]

Have loads of bramley apples myself this year. I put in a couple of sweet eating apples with them when stewing, without sweetener, and they taste of that way. I freeze them in small blobs or an ice cube tray then put a blob in my porridge. Yummy

 

[grovesy]

I bake Bramley's!