Please dazzle me with ideas to save windfall apples

[LooseleafTea]

I keep stewing them and freezing as it annoys me we have too many and then none so end up buying them most of the year . But can I freeze them just peeled and cut up too eg for apple tarts or will they go brown and less nice?

We are already eating lots of It in crumbles and Eve’s pudding (easy sponge on top) and with blackberries mixed in

Oh yes our apple trees been productivd for the forst time this year!

Chutney? Find someone with loads of cheese? Or loads of something else for a swap?

I have just frozen 6 bags of cut up apples.
I peeled & cored them and cut them Into chunks.
They went in lemon juice and water to stop them going brown until I was ready to bag them all.
Look up ‘frozen apple recipes’. There are quite a few.

You can make juice with a couple planks of wood, a bucket and a car jack.

Apparently you can freeze whole apples too...

www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-freeze-apples-1388435

We have had like two apples this year, so I am quite jealous. Usually I am feeling the guilt at not using them enough. My neighbour told me today Apple trees have a rest year so maybe that is why. Anyway, sorry OP, not much help - I usually do what you are doing - stew and freeze, make apple crumble and apple sauce and pork and apple casserole until we are sick of apples and then feel guilty I haven’t used them all. Always mean to make chutney, never do.

Cider.

I freeze ours sliced and they're fine once cooked. I thaw first for pie though or it goes soggy.

We also take a load to a local farm which juices them so you get lovely apple juice for a fraction of what it costs in the shops. Wouldn't solve your problem of having to buy them the rest of the year though!

Can you store them away? Apples properly stored should keep for quite awhile. Apple butter is lovely.

Also, do you like cider? A local cider maker would probably gladly take some of them for cider and re-pay you in cider.

@catbatcat

That sounds like some medieval torture!

Buy a juicer and do it properly.

Save the other equipment for Valentine's Day.

Apple jam? Its surprisingly nice.

yes, just chop up and freeze - then use as you need for curries, pies, whatever. We also dry ours, slice thinly, drop into dilute lemon juice and dry out in a very warm place - on top of the oven when it's on, airing cupboard, next to the boiler etc. You can buy a dehydrator of course. The dried apple gets eaten faster than the fresh, my dc always loved it!

Apple jam, apple jelly, apple butter

Dried apple sounds amazing and jam - so many helpful comments thank you all hugely!

I am particularly grateful as getting short of freezer space too but do have spare jars and also a warm place to try drying them if top of an aga might do that!
I never thought of dried apple and just love it

Just Chopping will really helps too as i hadn’t thought of adding it to pork casseroles etc

I've been making Dorset Apple cake and spiced Apple chutney, both bbc recipes.

I did make two lovely cakes and froze them too! I wonder if similar to a dorset one as can’t remember what that is, mine had ground almonds in

I make loads of apple crumbles and freeze them. Crumble topping lasts really wel in the freezer.
Store them in banana boxes not touching each other in the dark. You have to check them weekly and take out and use anything that’s going soft/bad

@LooseleafTea ah - you have an AGA - no problem drying then! just lay out on racks and leave on the aga overnight, and when ever it;s not in use during the day. Takes about 24 - 36 hours to dry enough to put into a tin, but you can take the trays on and off the aga as you need to use it. If you do the first overnight session it will do the initial sealing.

You can put trays on top of the lids, you don;t need to open them up. I stack them two high, use any wire racks you have to form the top layer.

Oh brilliant as I looked up oven drying but worried they won’t keep . It’ll be so useful if they go dry enough to store well and I love not having to buy anything extra like a dehydrator as have a rack or two could try and do in slow batches

Google suggested cinnamon on dried apples while will make a nice variant too, and said can leave skin on (hooray as bored of peeling so many)

I made this spiced apple jelly one year when we had a huge glut - it was delicious.

We also did as a pp suggests and took loads to be juiced and bottled at a local farm.

DH has been making jars of apple chilli butter with ours tonight. It's looking good!

You need a couple of cheap buckets , and some builders/sharp sand from b&q!

Put a thick layer of sand in the bottom, lay some apples on the sand making site there's a decent distance between them so they don't touch.

Cover with more and until no air gaps, and a nice flat surface again, repeat sand and apples till you get to the last layer of sand.

My grandma used to store apples like this out in the shed all winter. Just brush away the sand and take out a few apples as you need them.

Good luck!