Apple Delight!

[thistlebloom]

Several years ago, (seven, eight, ten?? I don't know...) I bought 5 bare root Prairie Fire crabapples to plant down the driveway. I love their bloom and fall color and the brilliant red crabs that hang on the tree most of the winter.

Well 4 of the 5 didn't survive above the graft, so now I have a motley collection of root stock apple trees. The surviving PF happens to be precisely in the center so it looks like I might have planted them with my eyes open at least.

The last few years there have been a sort of effort among these root stocks to bloom, and set a few apples. I tried one or two now and then and decided they were pretty good - if you were a hungry deer.

But! This year was their year! They had so many apples (2 of the 4 anyway) that one broke a limb, and the others were sagging under the weight.

Long story short, we have some wonderful new neighbors with three kids that love to visit all of our animals, and they asked (politely too!) if they could pick and eat some apples. Sure, but they aren't very tasty I told them. Weelllll, they took a bite and declared them delicious. ( You know how kids have funny taste buds.)

I had to try one too, and they were so right! One of the trees has an almost Honeycrisp flavor, and the other two are more along the lines of a Granny Smith.

I am rich in apples!!! It's such a delightful surprise that these trees are actually going to be productive and useful, not just a pretty face, but hard working assets.

We invited the family to come pick as many as they wanted, and as a thank you, the mom made us 3 quarts of her ready to use apple pie filling. I made a pie last night and it was fantastic!



I'm hustling over there after work and getting the recipe and then you know what I'll be doing this weekend. Isn't it wonderful?

 

[Nyboy]

I love crabapple trees, in spring mine are clouds of pink or red. Glad your root stock produces good tasting apples. I am looking for apple trees on 111 root stock, was told best for heavy clay soil.

 

[ninnymary]

Wow thistle! You made out! I have so many questions. Are crabapples good to eat fresh? Aren't those very tiny apples? I'm confused when you said most didn't survive above the graft. Did the original tree die and then new one came up? Don't laugh because I'm so clueless. I need to see a picture! You are so lucky you got 3 jars of pie filling. What a nice gift! Coming winter you will be eating pies! So jealous, lol I'm assuming that even after the neighbor picked a lot of apples that you still have tons?

Mary

 

[britesea]

Crabapples are too tart for me to eat fresh; I use crabapples with regular apples in my applesauce- they add a snap, and a lovely rosy hue. I've also made spiced/pickled crabapples, and a wonderful crabapple liqueur.

 

[Nyboy]

How do you make crabapple liqueur ?

 

[Nyboy]

http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/7007/crabapple-pie-is-a-labor-of-love

 

[Carol Dee]

DH made some fabulous Crabapple wine once. His 1st wine making experiment. And has not had a wine success since. LOL.
Those sound like fabulous neighbors. I bet the children would even ask if they could play in the sprinkler, unlike some Moose we won't name.

 

[so lucky]

Wow thistle! You made out! I have so many questions. Are crabapples good to eat fresh? Aren't those very tiny apples? I'm confused when you said most didn't survive above the graft. Did the original tree die and then new one came up? Don't laugh because I'm so clueless. I need to see a picture! You are so lucky you got 3 jars of pie filling. What a nice gift! Coming winter you will be eating pies! So jealous, lol I'm assuming that even after the neighbor picked a lot of apples that you still have tons?

Mary

Mary, I think what happened is that the grafted crab apple part died off, and the regular old apple root stock started growing and producing some odd but good apples, maybe close in size to a regular apple.

 

[ninnymary]

Oh, so they are more like regular apples than crabapples?

Mary

 

[britesea]

Crabapple liqueur is very very easy. I don't measure things much, but it's hard to go wrong. Take a quantity of crabapples and quarter them and drop them into a glass gallon jar if you have one (otherwise, any ceramic or glass receptacle of a good size will do). You want to have about 25% of the jar full of quartered crabapples. Now dump in enough cheap liquor to fill it. I prefer vodka for this, but you can use rum, whiskey, brandy, even tequila- whatever you think will taste-marry with the apple. Put this in a dark cool place and forget about it for a minimum of 6 weeks- 12 is better if you can wait that long. Haul it out and check the liquid, which should have an amber tinge now, and smell like apples. Make some simple syrup (2 cups sugar to 1 cup water and boil until dissolved) and add to taste (that's the fun part!). It should be drinkable now, but if you can force yourself, it will get more mellow and smooth the longer you wait. I usually wait 6 months. When you are finally ready to drink it- strain out the fruit and bottle your liqueur in pretty bottles.

This is the same recipe I use for quince liqueur (which tastes just a bit different from crabapple), also plum, and blackberry liqueurs. I prefer rum for the blackberry, whiskey for the plum... the flavors just seem to marry better I think. The blackberries are the only fruit I keep after straining them out- I use them on ice cream.