After picking/gathering/hoisting all the apples back to the farm (in either the scary '80s Land Rover deathtrap or the equally tricky wheelbarrow), we sorted them. Really gross ones for the pigs, decent ones for the grind, and lovely ones for our direct eating pleasure.
What's 'the grind,' you ask? Well, let's start off by pointing out a couple of things in the picture above. First and foremost: me. Man, I am stunning in that dirty-overalls/manure-covered-wellies/bandana-to-hide-my-greasy-hair kind of way, aren't I? Alright, enough kidding around: the apples. In the basket are the ones we sorted out for us to use (keep your pants on, more on that later). And I just so happen to be sitting on a huge barrel of crushed apples - to produce SCHNAPPS (booze, baby). One of those huge barrels will ferment down to about 2.5litres of liquor. Behind me (the green triangle-esque thing) is the very high-tech machine we used to grind the apples.
Step One: Prop very awkward, very heavy Big Thing on two high barrels so that a lower barrel (i.e. the red one) can slide under the Big Thing and catch the apples. Also, another very technical aspect of the Big Thing: using an old brown paper bag to cover any holes, so as to prevent apple chunks from flying out the sides (and possibly at the face of any innocent bystander).
Step Two: Put Apples In Big Thing
Steph Three: Grind the Apples! Important SideNote: We found it best to work in reps of 50 per arm. Gotta make sure the guns (i.e. arm muscles) are being worked out evenly, after all. Disregard O using two hands in the picture: we admit that this is a fake action shot taken after we already ground all the apples.
Step Five: Make sure all apples are through the Big Thing and there aren't an extraneous sticks or body parts left behind. Then seal up the apples and wait about a month and a half. Not sure exactly how the distilling works, but we have learned that we need to go to Town Hall to 'check out' something that we're allowed to take for only a few hours and must then return it to Town Hall. Give us another month and we'll be able to describe it a little better... still a bit of a communication barrier and all that.
Voila! Look at all those apples! This basket represents about half of the "tasty" ones we collect - the other half lives in the 'Apple Cave' staying cool, dark, and dry. This basket also represents probably about 1/10 of the apples put through the Big Thing. There were a lot of apples, folks.
So... what to do with all these apples? We've already got about 10 jars of applesauce in the fridge. Hmm, what's for lunch? Boudin Noir? Perfect!
Peel, core, and quarter about 20 apples and place along the edges of any kind of dish you can find. Put the Boudin Noir in the middle, put some pats of butter along the apple pieces, heat until warmed through, and...
Bon Appetit!
Ok, so now we only have about 200 apples left... Apple Butter, anyone? We scoured the internet for some recipes - most of which used some sort of crock pot, which we don't have. Finally found an 'old-fashioned' recipe, luckily with lots of comments from people who had tried the recipe, so we were able to tweak it accordingly to what we had readily available to us in the house.
Obviously, the first step is to peel them. Our apples were mostly a little smaller than the average American Granny Smiths, so while the recipe called for 60, we grabbed 65 just to be safe.
We put all peels and cores in a bucket of cold water (to rinse off the dirt) and all the apple chunks into large pots.
Next, we put all the peels and cores (drained) into a cheese cloth and tied it up. We put this into the pot of apple chunks, along with a cup of water and half a cup of apple cider vinegar (per pot - we had about three). The contents of the bag contain pectin, which is responsible for getting the apple butter to be more of a spread-like substance (rather than just a creamy applesauce).
After the apples reduced down to apple sauce, we removed the cheesecloth bag and used a hand blender to de-chunkify the sauce. We also used it to mix in the sugar (1 part sugar for every 2 parts apple puree), and spices (we had cinnamon and cloves on hand, season to taste/color).
Here's the part that requires the most time and energy: simmering it down to the buttery good stuff. Luckily, O & I had no projects that afternoon, so we watched a couple of movies and took turns (every 5 minutes or so) getting up to stir the pots and scrape the bottom (to prevent burning). We were also sure not to cover the pots completely - you obviously need air to reduce/evaporate: the pot on the left is only partially covered, and the pot on the right had a mesh top to go over it. You will need to cover some of the pot, however, unless you want apple goop bubbling all over your kitchen.
After about 2.5 hours, the left pot was done (it contained a little less than the right, and was also a thinner pot), so we added it to the right pot since both mixtures had reduced significantly. Cooked about 30 minutes more, let cool about 30 minutes, and..
(insert trumpet fanfare here) Ta-Da! Now, we opted not to go for the intense canning procedure involving boiling the jars and sanitizing and sealing and all that jazz - we are a family of 5 (with visiting friends for meals every day), and have read that they should keep in the fridge for quite a few months. We've already gone through the tiny white-lidded jar and are halfway through regular-sized white-lidded jar, and it's been less than 24 hours! Our current suggestions include spreading on bread with some foie gras mousse or munster. Or mixing in with home-made yogurt and a little demerara (tasty tasty raw cane sugar).
And to end on a sentimental note: tomorrow, O is traveling to The Big SuperMarket with Emmanuelle in hopes of finding all things necessary for our Thanksgiving dinner (don't worry - blog to follow). We hope all of you have an absolutely fantastic holiday - eat, drink, and be merry. We know we will be thinking of you all on Thursday, and how grateful we truly are to have you in our lives. Awww.... oof, ok, enough gushy stuff.... Now send us some money! :)
So... what to do with all these apples? We've already got about 10 jars of applesauce in the fridge. Hmm, what's for lunch? Boudin Noir? Perfect!
Peel, core, and quarter about 20 apples and place along the edges of any kind of dish you can find. Put the Boudin Noir in the middle, put some pats of butter along the apple pieces, heat until warmed through, and...
Bon Appetit!
Ok, so now we only have about 200 apples left... Apple Butter, anyone? We scoured the internet for some recipes - most of which used some sort of crock pot, which we don't have. Finally found an 'old-fashioned' recipe, luckily with lots of comments from people who had tried the recipe, so we were able to tweak it accordingly to what we had readily available to us in the house.
Obviously, the first step is to peel them. Our apples were mostly a little smaller than the average American Granny Smiths, so while the recipe called for 60, we grabbed 65 just to be safe.
We put all peels and cores in a bucket of cold water (to rinse off the dirt) and all the apple chunks into large pots.
Next, we put all the peels and cores (drained) into a cheese cloth and tied it up. We put this into the pot of apple chunks, along with a cup of water and half a cup of apple cider vinegar (per pot - we had about three). The contents of the bag contain pectin, which is responsible for getting the apple butter to be more of a spread-like substance (rather than just a creamy applesauce).
After the apples reduced down to apple sauce, we removed the cheesecloth bag and used a hand blender to de-chunkify the sauce. We also used it to mix in the sugar (1 part sugar for every 2 parts apple puree), and spices (we had cinnamon and cloves on hand, season to taste/color).
Here's the part that requires the most time and energy: simmering it down to the buttery good stuff. Luckily, O & I had no projects that afternoon, so we watched a couple of movies and took turns (every 5 minutes or so) getting up to stir the pots and scrape the bottom (to prevent burning). We were also sure not to cover the pots completely - you obviously need air to reduce/evaporate: the pot on the left is only partially covered, and the pot on the right had a mesh top to go over it. You will need to cover some of the pot, however, unless you want apple goop bubbling all over your kitchen.After about 2.5 hours, the left pot was done (it contained a little less than the right, and was also a thinner pot), so we added it to the right pot since both mixtures had reduced significantly. Cooked about 30 minutes more, let cool about 30 minutes, and..
(insert trumpet fanfare here) Ta-Da! Now, we opted not to go for the intense canning procedure involving boiling the jars and sanitizing and sealing and all that jazz - we are a family of 5 (with visiting friends for meals every day), and have read that they should keep in the fridge for quite a few months. We've already gone through the tiny white-lidded jar and are halfway through regular-sized white-lidded jar, and it's been less than 24 hours! Our current suggestions include spreading on bread with some foie gras mousse or munster. Or mixing in with home-made yogurt and a little demerara (tasty tasty raw cane sugar).And to end on a sentimental note: tomorrow, O is traveling to The Big SuperMarket with Emmanuelle in hopes of finding all things necessary for our Thanksgiving dinner (don't worry - blog to follow). We hope all of you have an absolutely fantastic holiday - eat, drink, and be merry. We know we will be thinking of you all on Thursday, and how grateful we truly are to have you in our lives. Awww.... oof, ok, enough gushy stuff.... Now send us some money! :)
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