APPLES - DRIED AND JUICED

Drying and juicing are easy convenient ways to store your apples for the winter season. The difficulty with dried apples is keeping them long enough. We have a dish of dried apples on the table most of the time and it seems as if I am filling it every day. I figure we all must be eating the equivalent of two or three apples per day.

I dried many varieties of apples this summer and found that they all have very distinctive tastes. Our favorite varieties dried are the ones that are somewhat tart and tangy when eaten fresh. The drying process sweetens the fruit considerably. Dried crabapples have a wonderful flavor.

There are many kinds of dryers on the market today and they all work well. I would recommend one of the larger types as it allows you to do large quantities at one time which is nice if you are dealing with fruits that don’t keep very well. It always seems that the poor keepers all ripen on the same day!

For those of you who are able to visit the nursery this summer I will have samples of many varieties available for sampling. That is if I can keep the staff away from them!

Most apple varieties make wonderful juice. There are many methods of extracting juice, and I have tried most of them.

Excellent juice can be made from crabapples and apple crabs simply by quartering them and covering them with boiling water. They are left to sit for 36 to 48 hours and then the juice is drained off. Boil the juice, add sugar or honey if you like and then pour it into hot sealer jars and seal. This is a little time consuming but the results are very tasty.

There are many kinds of juice extractors on the market. Many people use the steam type of extractor. I have tried these, they produce a more concentrated type of juice with a cooked flavor. They are not my favorite but fairly inexpensive and the juice can be either canned or frozen.

The next type would be the motor driven type that chops the fruit and then spins the juice out through a screen. These are fine for making small quantities of juice but the juice tends to discolor badly and we find there is lots left in the pulp. The pulp can be used for baking however. The worst thing about these juicers is cleaning them. I find it time consuming for the benefits derived.

My favorite juice extractor so far is the press. There are many types of presses but the principles work the same for all of them. The fruit is first ground, this is necessary to break down the cell structure and release the juice. The fruit is then placed in a container and the fruit pressed out by some means. Some use a ratchet system, some are screwed down and the bigger more commercial types work with hydraulics. These presses can be expensive to buy but we did discover that small apple presses can be rented from some of the wine stores for a very reasonable price. For our local customers we are planning to have a day when you can bring your fruit to the nursery and we will press it for you.

We simply press the juice, add a wee bit of ascorbic acid to prevent discoloring, pour it into containers and freeze it. The thawed product has a fabulous fresh flavor.

We did our apples by variety, some are wonderful on their own but others need to be blended with other varieties for the best flavor. It is great fun to experiment.

Drying and juicing are two more ways to enjoy the fruits of your labours through the long winter months so try them both and enjoy!

Amanda Chedzoy

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