Apples
When we first moved to the Okanagan, one of our first purchases was this apple peeler/corer from Williams-Sonoma: https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/old-fashioned-apple-peeler-and-corer/. We had received some W-S gift cards and needed to use them up – who knew how handy this machine would be!! Since then, it gets pulled out annually to make applesauce, dehydrated apple slices, etc. And every year, it takes me a few minutes to figure out how to use it – the joys of having no spatial relationship abilities (or memory, apparently)!
This year, we picked our first crop of Honeycrisp apples from the orchard, so we decided to process some apples this week. Word to the wise: when choosing apples, don’t pick oversized ones as they won’t work in the apple peeler. So far, we have made:
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Applesauce: Peel, core and chop apples, add to pot with a small amount of water and cook down. Once soft, you can blend and flavour (I added a little bit of honey and a lot of cinnamon), pour into sterilized jars and water bath for 20 minutes. A large pot yielded 16 pint jars, so we will be doing this a few more times. I like to use applesauce in baking in the winter as a substitute for oil and eggs.
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Dehydrated apple slices: If you haven’t purchased one of these dehydrators yet, what are you waiting for?? https://good2goco.ca/products/excalibur-9-tray-dehydrator This is another purchase we made when we first moved to the Okanagan, and it has been a great investment. Once we use the apple peeler to peel, core and slice, we cut down the middle of the apple to create half rings, which we dip in lemon water and then dehydrate. (You can top with cinnamon as well.) Although we haven’t done it this year, we also like to use the dehydrator for tomato slices, plums and other fruit.
Next up, we will be making more applesauce, apple pie filling, hot pepper jelly and smoking some chipotle peppers. This extended fall has been great for food processing, although it will also be nice when the frost hits and we don’t have to feel guilty for not taking advantage of the harvest any more! Please drop your apple recipes below!
Also, if you live in the Okanagan, please check out Good2GoCo for all of your off the grid needs. You can pick up your order in Lake Country, and they have a lot of really neat survival products: https://good2goco.ca/
