Last year I decided to give our apple trees a haircut. The apple orchard tree idea had started out as my husband’s project, but after a handful of years, the trees still weren’t producing. With a little help from a youtube video, I took a clippers to them and snipped away. My flowering bushes love to have their branches trimmed after their blooms have faded. So the apples trees should too.
And it worked! The trees brimmed with blooms in the spring and the branches became weighted down with fruit by late summer. Funny how even plants respond to a little attention.
The large apples were easy to use in a crisp. But these little ones are difficult to peel. My brother who was visiting made a plug for apple butter. Apple butter? I too had never heard of it. Once you get the seeds out and slice and dice the little fruit you turn the chunks loose in a slow cooker (with some sugar and cinnamon) for ten hours. The fragrance is as fall as pumkin pie.
A compote forms which needs to be run through a blender to smooth it all out. It’s tasty and tangy even if its appearance is questionable.
You just never know what little piece of work is waiting to be done to reap well deserved rewards.
Home Economics 