To hate being given cooking apples

I’d implement a rule that whoever accepts the apples is responsible for the apples. At least then you only have to deal with the ones you can’t run away from, not the ones chasing your husband!

Apple & rosemary jelly (lovely with lamb or on roasties)
Apple, sage and thyme jelly (good with pork or meatloaf)
Apple blackberry almond cake
Apple chilli jelly/jam

I have a surfeit of apples, crabapples, pears and toms this year. My neighbours/colleagues are afraid too, but I am the CHUTNEY QUEEN 👑!

We have the world's most productive cooking apple tree on our allotment and I'm probably the most hated person on our street, going by this post! I do always message people first to ask if they want any, though, and they do always say 'Ooh, yes please!' We keep a lot though - we make cider, apple butter, Dorset apple cake and chutney as well as the usual tarts and crumbles. Definitely going to try that toffee apple cake as well!

You say you have teenagers... dealing with the cooking apples from our tree was one of my jobs when I was a teen. We mostly just had it stewed, sometimes with cinnamon, and froze quite a lot. DM would sometimes make a nice apple pie with a top which was a a sort of cinnamon shortbread which was easier than normal pastry (i think just pressed out into a round not rolled)

I was your neighbour many years ago. People would see me in the school playground at pick up with bulging carrier bags and run far away at one point

Oh I'd love some! I miss my old apple tree. Chutneys, apple chili jelly!
Yes it takes effort but lovely reward (and takes care of a few Christmas presents).
But if you really don't want them pass them one

When you're given cooking apples it's worth biting into one just to check it's not suitable for eating uncooked. My boss had been giving out bags of "cooking apples" for years but it turned out they were absolutely delicious when eaten raw! He couldn't believe it when I told him as he'd never even tried one for some bizarre reason.

Apple and rosemary jelly, amazing with lamb
Able sorbet with calvados (think it's trou Normand?)
I think any kind of Xmas pudding or crumble uses cooking apples
Also I don't core them if I'm chopping them, just chop around the core, one less job

I grow a few types of cooking apples on my allotment and I always chop and freeze them (I leave the peel on) first of all to buy some time and can then use them as I need them like on one of those cold rainy winter days when we just need a cosy pudding. They are a great filler to go in jams with any other nice berries or fruit you may have too and then you can then use the jam in all sorts of recipes. I also like to make a cinnamon, star anise and nutmeg apple sauce that we dollop on all sorts of sweet and savoury things over Christmas. It makes a nice gift with a bow on too.

Someone on the local Freecycle website is always asking for surplus fruit. It may well be worth putting on one where you live.

I get apples from my cousin but they tend to be the ones that go to a mush, so I just bag it all up in small bags once cooked and put in the freezer for apple sauce.

Do you know anyone with horses, goats or chickens? They might take a few off your hands. My horse loves a good sharp tasting apple, she can't have too many because of the sugar but she loves this time of year!

Haha, it is a really niche problem, but it's happened to me a few times. I find apples and pears quite boring and they are also inexpensive to buy so I am never thrilled if someone offers me a box of them... like if I wanted some I'd just buy some 😂

I think it's one of those things that makes the person giving it feel good about themselves more than the person receiving!

Mary Berry's Devonshire Apple Cake (I think that's the right title) uses cooking apples and is delicious, although sadly it really only needs a couple per recipe!

Give them to a food bank they will be recieved greatfully.

Recipes I make when I have a glut of cooking apples are stewed apple, apple and Forest fruit chia jam, apple cake and crumble/pie filling. I don't bother peeling, I just grate the apple until I get to the core for jam or stewed apple, and I slice thinly for apple cake. The only thing I peel them for crumble filling.

Those apple peeler corer devices are awesome and actually fun to use. The lakeland one may be discontinued but there are tons for sale on Amazon and eBay and various websites

Wow I would love to be given cooking apples! They are expensive.

Suggestions:

1. Chop into bits, stew, sieve out the peel and pips etc and freeze apple puree (for apple sauce, or add to yoghurt for refreshing snack).
2. Compost bin, if you have one.
3. Put out in garden (if you have one) for birds. Blackbirds, for example, love them.

This thread is so wholesome, I love it 🥰

I give surplus fresh produce to the local food bank, they put it out on a table for people to help themselves. That saves on food waste and is going towards helping the community. Also, try putting surplus on Olio app, someone will take it off your hands.

You could also see if there's a community fridge nearby and tell your lovely neighbour about. It's a great way to get a glut shared out.

My MIL has a mini orchard and she says neighbours have started diving behind their cars to hide when they see her coming with her bags of apples in autumn. And she doesn't mind at all when her kind offers (offloading) are politely declined.

She makes jars and jars of apple butter. Plenty of recipes online if anyone's curious:)

There was a curry recipe involving apples that was passed down my family for years. I think you had to stew the cooking apples with spices, then do something else with them (can't remember if tomatoes were added or not), then add tinned salmon (or other meat of your choice). Maybe you could do something savoury like that if you get fed up with sweet recipes?

discontinued ! sadface

I love it when I get some cooking apples! But everyone here loves crumbles.