#windfalls

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applesauce & karma ~ Kitchen Adventures almost live episode 3

Hello, welcome to the third kind-of episode of Kitchen Adventures almost live (cooking), where I try to make applesauce from foraged (windfall) apples, occasionally derailed by the doorbell, an unclogged drain, karma activating, and the mind being a bit all over the place, aka ADHD.

It's a journey. :D 

Rick Rosner: Yesterday, the Mega Millions lottery awarded someone $1.2 billion. If you choose the payment spread over time, which almost nobody does because it’s a bad deal, you’d get about $550 to $560 million as a lump sum. I forget if that’s before or after taxes, but it’s a significant amount either way. What would you do if you had a windfall of half a billion dollars? Scott Douglas…

English Kitchen Garden Windfalls 2

Part two of what to do when your apple tree drops apples. This is making an apple jelly juice base to which we will add our garden herbs. We make rosemary jelly, basil jelly, and mixed herbs (thyme, parsley and marjoram). A spoon of this goes very well into gravies and can add a bit of pizazz to a soup or casserole.

It's really easy. Rinse off the dirt that comes from falling on the ground. Cut out the bruised bits, and chop the rest of the apple (skin, core, seeds and even stems) go in the pot. 8 lbs of apples, two pints of water, a half pint of lemon juice (about six lemons). Cook at a simmer for 30-45 minutes or until the apples are soft and mushy and then strain through a jelly bag, allowing it to drip overnight.

Tomorrow I will split the juice into two halves, and then simmer half with big bunches of basil which I will remove before adding the sugar and bringing it to a boil. When it tests as set, pour into jars and then quickly insert a clean sprig of basil leaves on a short stem (looks pretty!). The same approach is taken with rosemary for the other half.

English Kitchen Garden Windfalls

It's that time of the year when my apple trees are starting to drop fruit that is not quite right- a bit of rot, a bite taken out by a bird, a bit too congested on the branch. Most of these above are dessert apples, the variety called James Grieve. They don't keep well, and bruise easily, so need to be eaten when ripe and taken from the tree. Once they hit the ground, they get pecked by blackbirds and eaten at night by voles, mice and the occasional field rat.

I let them enjoy the bounty; there is enough to share. I do have two other apple trees. The windfalls from another I do pick up and use to make chutney. Luckily, they fall simultaneously as I start to get a glut of tomatoes and courgettes.