Too many apples

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on what to do with all the apples that the tree in my garden is dropping. They aren't great for eating and it seems a shame to throw them all in the compost, lots are in fantastic condition.
I'd like to be able to turn them into something tasty like they deserve.

 

Oneof our golf club members always has too many apples, so he brings a boot-load of his "windfalls" in every year to give away.

"We run and hide."

 

Hello and Welcome El Chaffinch.
You could have a go at making the apples into cider.
They also freeze perfectly well for making apple puddings and sauce.
Sadly, so many apples go to waste every year. If you have a local fruit shop they might have a go at selling them and give you something in exchange.

 

If you had a press you could make some cider.

 

Windfall Apple Jelly is rather nice too.

 

Our local winery has adverts in the village shops asking for surplus apples. If there's a winery near you it might be worth checking out.
Another thing to consider is storing some and using them to feed the birds during the winter months, we store quite a lot for our own use but like to share a few with the birds.

 

Well, that will be Cairn O'Mohr, Dave.
They do lovely fruit wines. At one time they talked about planting vines on the south facing slope of the Carse but I don't think it has materialised.
Back to the apples and how to use them.
I have no apple tree, but all my neighbours do. Another 2 carrier bags of apples have arrived here today. I think I have prepared all I can for winter use and a big bag set aside for the blackies.
It's Cairn O'Mohr or the compost heap I think.
It seems such a shame.

 

I have some very expensive manure making machines (horses). If you live anywhere near Fife I'll swap you some great feed for your garden and the dobbins would love some of your apples!

 

Thanks everyone for all the ideas.
So far i've made some apple sauce with a few of them and the taste is greatly improved. I'm definetly going to try and make the apple butter!

 

:gnthb::gnthb::gnthb::gnthb::gnthb:
Their wines are great. Some taste very innocuous and moreish but have quite a sneaky kick!
If you've nor already seen it their website is a real hoot.

A super family, OH taught their children.

 

Oooohhh I think I would give the cider a try.

Im sure you would have plenty of people willing to help you consume it.:wink:

 

Not sure about the cider, I'd need pretty much everything but the apples.
And when I say everything I know nothing of what i'd need >_<

If there isnt too much start up equipment required its something I'd be very excited to give a go.

 

I think Apples have their own "yeast" so its probably just a question of Chopping/Milling and then pressing (hire a press?) and putting in demijons or somesuch with air-locks (so you'll need to buy those). You probably need a hydrometer to measure the original / specific gravity (that's how dense the solution is, and thus how much suggar it contains, and then you can gauge the difference in "density" between when you started and as the fermenting process progresses - the difference will be how much sugar the yeast has convert to alcohol :thumb:. There will be a formula for how much change you need (and, indeed, you may need to add some sugar at the start if the original gravity is not enough to kick-start the fermentation)

Once fermentation is done you siphon into bottles. I reckon you need bottles with stoppers - the sort that have a little rubber seal. So you might need to buy them - or a pressure vessel that you can store it in bulk - like a cask.

You'll need to sterilise all the containers / bottles - in the old days we used to use Milton for that, dunno if that's still the weapon of choice?

You might want to "sterilise" the original mix to kill off any of the wrong-sort-of-bugs and then put your own yeast in - but I think, unlike Beer and Wine, that the idea with Cider is that the Apples will provide both Sugar and Yeast so you don't need to add anything else :thumb: