quiet in here lately? where's George?

we had cucumbers yet (the most cucumbers we've
ever had as they grew well from our late May planting
until now, and they'd still be going if Ma hadn't
taken them out) so we made a batch of bread and
butter pickles yesterday.

the question though is about some fairly large
crab apples a neighbor has. they're beautiful!
and he asked us if we wanted them. i don't know
the variety name, but they are about 5cm across
and bright red. not too tart either when i sampled
a few.

can they be used for apple sauce or apple butter
or does the tart get intensified from cooking and
milling?

we've only done apple sauce and apple butter here
before from regular eating sorts of apples and not
from crab apples.

the small tree looks to have several buckets
worth on it (it's loaded!) and did i mention they
were beautiful!? i hate to pick them...
we aren't hurting for stuff to do or stuff to put
up, but i also hate to waste food and we have a
few rainy days in the schedule...

it's up in the air for sure, so perhaps someone
"out there[tm]" has experience with crab apples
like this?

oh, yeah, tomatoes are pretty much done, good
harvest and plenty put up which are all going to
be given away (a friend actually wanted some put
up but doesn't can much and her daughter wanted
some too so that took care of 36 quarts right
there).

for me it is mostly dry bean harvest time. my
favorite time of the year. shelling and
sorting beans is a tactile person's sort of heaven.
i tell Ma it's like picking stones at the beach
but she hasn't gotten involved yet. yet...


songbird

On 10/2/2015 7:30 AM, songbird wrote:
> quiet in here lately? where's George?
Not much going on here either, that's why George and Tilly Dawg are
napping a lot. <G>
>
> we had cucumbers yet (the most cucumbers we've
> ever had as they grew well from our late May planting
> until now, and they'd still be going if Ma hadn't
> taken them out) so we made a batch of bread and
> butter pickles yesterday.
We're still picking cukes from the two volunteer plants in the garden,
they're even better than the ones we deliberately picked. I suspect they
are descendants of the original cukes that were crossed.
>
> the question though is about some fairly large
> crab apples a neighbor has. they're beautiful!
> and he asked us if we wanted them. i don't know
> the variety name, but they are about 5cm across
> and bright red. not too tart either when i sampled
> a few.
>
> can they be used for apple sauce or apple butter
> or does the tart get intensified from cooking and
> milling?
Lots of recipes on line for crabapples, folks that post them say you can
use them for any recipe that you could use apples for.
>
> we've only done apple sauce and apple butter here
> before from regular eating sorts of apples and not
> from crab apples.
>
> the small tree looks to have several buckets
> worth on it (it's loaded!) and did i mention they
> were beautiful!? i hate to pick them...
> we aren't hurting for stuff to do or stuff to put
> up, but i also hate to waste food and we have a
> few rainy days in the schedule...

A friend stopped by a few years back and gave us some crabapple jelly,
the first we had ever eaten, was excellent.
>
> it's up in the air for sure, so perhaps someone
> "out there[tm]" has experience with crab apples
> like this?
>
> oh, yeah, tomatoes are pretty much done, good
> harvest and plenty put up which are all going to
> be given away (a friend actually wanted some put
> up but doesn't can much and her daughter wanted
> some too so that took care of 36 quarts right
> there).
>
> for me it is mostly dry bean harvest time. my
> favorite time of the year. shelling and
> sorting beans is a tactile person's sort of heaven.
> i tell Ma it's like picking stones at the beach
> but she hasn't gotten involved yet. yet...
>
>
> songbird
>
We're watching the fall garden grow, carrots and beets are up, chard
will be next up I suspect. Not much going in this fall, the freezers are
full and the canning pantry is too. Still hot here, some days back to
90F but falls off to 70F at night. I should be able to work in the
garage before long. Need more rain, we're getting infrequent mist
falling instead or rain.

George

songbird wrote:
> quiet in here lately? where's George?
>
> we had cucumbers yet (the most cucumbers we've
> ever had as they grew well from our late May planting
> until now, and they'd still be going if Ma hadn't
> taken them out) so we made a batch of bread and
> butter pickles yesterday.
>
> the question though is about some fairly large
> crab apples a neighbor has. they're beautiful!
> and he asked us if we wanted them. i don't know
> the variety name, but they are about 5cm across
> and bright red. not too tart either when i sampled
> a few.
>
> can they be used for apple sauce or apple butter
> or does the tart get intensified from cooking and
> milling?
>
> we've only done apple sauce and apple butter here
> before from regular eating sorts of apples and not
> from crab apples.
>
> the small tree looks to have several buckets
> worth on it (it's loaded!) and did i mention they
> were beautiful!? i hate to pick them...
> we aren't hurting for stuff to do or stuff to put
> up, but i also hate to waste food and we have a
> few rainy days in the schedule...
>
> it's up in the air for sure, so perhaps someone
> "out there[tm]" has experience with crab apples
> like this?
>
Crab apple jelly.
Beautiful pink. Great flavor.

We use a lot of it like plum jelly for doing oriental sweet and sour sauces.

On 2015-10-02 12:30:46 +0000, songbird said:

> quiet in here lately? where's George?
>
> we had cucumbers yet (the most cucumbers we've
> ever had as they grew well from our late May planting
> until now, and they'd still be going if Ma hadn't
> taken them out) so we made a batch of bread and
> butter pickles yesterday.
>
> the question though is about some fairly large
> crab apples a neighbor has. they're beautiful!
> and he asked us if we wanted them. i don't know
> the variety name, but they are about 5cm across
> and bright red. not too tart either when i sampled
> a few.
>
> can they be used for apple sauce or apple butter
> or does the tart get intensified from cooking and
> milling?
>
> we've only done apple sauce and apple butter here
> before from regular eating sorts of apples and not
> from crab apples.
>
> the small tree looks to have several buckets
> worth on it (it's loaded!) and did i mention they
> were beautiful!? i hate to pick them...
> we aren't hurting for stuff to do or stuff to put
> up, but i also hate to waste food and we have a
> few rainy days in the schedule...
>
> it's up in the air for sure, so perhaps someone
> "out there[tm]" has experience with crab apples
> like this?
>
> oh, yeah, tomatoes are pretty much done, good
> harvest and plenty put up which are all going to
> be given away (a friend actually wanted some put
> up but doesn't can much and her daughter wanted
> some too so that took care of 36 quarts right
> there).
>
> for me it is mostly dry bean harvest time. my
> favorite time of the year. shelling and
> sorting beans is a tactile person's sort of heaven.
> i tell Ma it's like picking stones at the beach
> but she hasn't gotten involved yet. yet...
>
>
> songbird

Are they sort of oval? Maybe Dolgo crabs. Look 'em up. They make
gorgeous jelly. Can't see why they wouldn't be good for sauce, too.
<shrug> I steam-juice them.
--
--
Barb
www.barbschaller.com, last update April 2013

George Shirley wrote:
>songbird wrote:

>> quiet in here lately? where's George?

> Not much going on here either, that's why George and Tilly Dawg are
> napping a lot. <G>



it's been life as usual here, but that means it
has been busy, too busy, i'm taking today "off",
but that just means i'm putting off today's
planned tasks for tomorrow or the next day. a
bit of reading for sure. nice day out there so
i'll probably do some shelling and sorting for
the beans.


>> we had cucumbers yet (the most cucumbers we've
>> ever had as they grew well from our late May planting
>> until now, and they'd still be going if Ma hadn't
>> taken them out) so we made a batch of bread and
>> butter pickles yesterday.
> We're still picking cukes from the two volunteer plants in the garden,
> they're even better than the ones we deliberately picked. I suspect they
> are descendants of the original cukes that were crossed.

sometimes the random plants turn out better.
ours were grown from specific greenhouse plants so
they are not random plants. a number of squash
plants turned into orange ones and one large pumpkin
(which we've never planted) so those colors came
from bees that had wandered around. i'm not sure
who else around here grows squash/pumpkins, but
all the gardens i know of are quite a ways away.


>> the question though is about some fairly large
>> crab apples a neighbor has. they're beautiful!
>> and he asked us if we wanted them. i don't know
>> the variety name, but they are about 5cm across
>> and bright red. not too tart either when i sampled
>> a few.
>>
>> can they be used for apple sauce or apple butter
>> or does the tart get intensified from cooking and
>> milling?

> Lots of recipes on line for crabapples, folks that post them say you can
> use them for any recipe that you could use apples for.

sure, but i was hoping to hear experiences from
people who've actually done it as i don't want to
put a lot of work into something and then have it
turn out too bitter.

as it turned out i decided to let this opportunity
go by as i have way too much going on right now
anyways.


>> we've only done apple sauce and apple butter here
>> before from regular eating sorts of apples and not
>> from crab apples.
>>
>> the small tree looks to have several buckets
>> worth on it (it's loaded!) and did i mention they
>> were beautiful!? i hate to pick them...
>> we aren't hurting for stuff to do or stuff to put
>> up, but i also hate to waste food and we have a
>> few rainy days in the schedule...
>
> A friend stopped by a few years back and gave us some crabapple jelly,
> the first we had ever eaten, was excellent.

i'm not that often making any sort of jelly
as i like chunks or texture in my jams.


....
> We're watching the fall garden grow, carrots and beets are up, chard
> will be next up I suspect. Not much going in this fall, the freezers are
> full and the canning pantry is too. Still hot here, some days back to
> 90F but falls off to 70F at night. I should be able to work in the
> garage before long. Need more rain, we're getting infrequent mist
> falling instead or rain.

we've had a bit of rain here or there and some nights
of fog but nothing too cold yet. i think no rain is
forecast now until later in the week. very nice days
for about the past month...

now i'm hoping the red peppers have enough time to get
some red on them before the weather gets too cold for
them. there's about 30 of them out there nice and green
and full size -- they're edible even as green peppers
but i like them much more when they turn red.


songbird

pheasant16 wrote:
....
> Crab apple jelly.
> Beautiful pink. Great flavor.
>
> We use a lot of it like plum jelly for doing oriental sweet and sour sauces.

thanks! i'll keep it in mind for next fall
if we get a repeat opportunity. i decided to pass
on them this year.


songbird

Melba's Jammin' wrote:
....
> Are they sort of oval? Maybe Dolgo crabs. Look 'em up. They make
> gorgeous jelly. Can't see why they wouldn't be good for sauce, too.
><shrug> I steam-juice them.

yes, that looks like them, thanks! we're not
using them this year so i'm going to keep them in
mind for next year.


songbird