The Joy of Windfall Apples

When we visited our friends in Beeston recently we came home with the gift of a box of windfall apples from trees in their garden.  They were a mixture of  Bramley cooking apples and an unknown desert apple variety.

When we got them home they were sorted into those that needed dealing with at once and those that could wait a day or two.  The first batch were peeled, chopped, bagged and frozen.

The next day we found some 'wonky' plums in a nearby supermarket.  They didn't look in the least 'wonky' to me but luckily they had also been reduced in price.   They were chopped and quartered and the rest of the apples prepared for making jam.

Today the last few apples have been chopped and cooked and made into a crumble.

Some of the frozen apple pieces may sometime in the future be turned into chutney or perhaps more crumbles.  

Two pots of jam will be taken back to Beeston as a thank you. Sharing - just one of the joys of windfall apples. 

Monday Miscellany

With the rest of the windfall apples that I mentioned in my last post we made jam.

 

I peeled, cored and chopped the apples and washed, stoned and chopped some plums we had bought very cheaply at the local supermarket.  They were Italian plums and I couldn't help but wish that we had had more plums on our own tree this year.  A couple of years ago we had so many we had several bags in the freezer and it would have been nice to have had some this year to take out of the freezer and put with the apples.  The fruit was cooked in water and then sugar added.  The mixture was brought to a rolling boil until setting point was reached - this caused a few  anxious moments with dripping spoons and testing with plates and spoons taken cold from the fridge.

 Jars were sterilised in the oven and Paul spooned the mixture into them whilst I sterilised the lids with boiling water from the kettle. It was satisfying to hear the popping of the seals as the jars cooled down throughout the evening.

 Overnight the jam had set quite well so we chose a jar to open and test.

 The jam was sweet and refreshing with the scones I made yesterday afternoon.

Two of the jars have been set aside as a thank you to the friends who gave us the apples from their garden. 

 Whilst I was making scones Paul was mixing bread dough and leaving it to rise.  A couple of hours later we had two lovely crusty cobs.
We did seem to have quite a productive time in the kitchen over the weekend.