How are you today? All well I hope, and having a great week 💖 Well, it's that time of year again! It's Harvest time for the apples on our little apple tree 🍏
Yesterday was a really exciting day. No shift at work so, helped by my beloved little assistant, our furbaby Jade, I went out into the garden and gathered the apples from our tiny tree. Of course it helps that our tree isn't tall, there's no way you'll ever find me on a step ladder! It also helps that the apples were just falling off the tree 😊
It does feel very early to harvest the apples, although it's only a week or so earlier than last year, but there really was no choice in the matter. Over the past week or so we've been losing so many apples from our tiny apple tree because they're just setting out to prove Sir Issac Newton's theory by falling off the tree and bouncing off across the patio 🍎
Every spring I watch our tiny apple tree burst into gorgeous, delicate pastel shades of white, pink, green and yellow as the apple blossom appears. The blossom eventually falls away leaving a blanket of petals on our patio looking as if we've had the prettiest wedding as it's scattered all over 💖
From this beautiful apple blossom lovely Bramley apples appear as if by magic. We planted our much loved little tree in the back garden of our home in the spring of 2007 knowing it would take some years before we could expect apples for our kitchen.
The very first apple, a single perfect apple, appeared in 2014 and the following year, 2015, we had three apples 🍏
While the following year, 2016, in October, later than the now more usual earlier August harvests, we were blessed with only two apples again. They might have taken longer to grow but they were the most perfect Bramley apples! Of course, I immediately decided to make apple crumbles using these perfect apples grown in our own garden on our own tiny tree 💗
Last year we had our very first real crop of perfect apples and, by storing them properly we had apple crumbles all the way through till March this year! To be fair though, they lasted that long (and were still perfect when I cooked the last of them) because there are only two of us and we don't have apple crumbles or turnovers or other yummy treats every single week, we're trying to live a healthier life after all 😊 When I did bake though, it was such a joy to know the apples I used were homegrown 🏡
So, why not grab a cuppa honeys and maybe a cookie, and meet me back here and I'll share our apple adventure yesterday and how you can store your apples if you too have a little apple tree...
Welcome back honeys 😊 Do you have your cuppa? Me too ☕ Let's take a look at yesterdays adventure will we 🍎
As I said earlier, we really were left with no choice but to gather the apples, yesterday morning there were another two apples lying on the patio so it was harvest time, like it or not 😊 To be honest I would have rather left them on the tree till late this month at least to enjoy the lovely sunshine and good Scottish rain. The apples themselves however appeared to be throwing themselves off the tree each day so off into the garden our furbaby Jade and I went, with a basin to collect these fly-away apples 😃
As you can see honeys, there's been quite a crop this year! More than last year even. I think we brought in around 47 apples yesterday and if we hadn't lost so many over the past week or so it would have been more. I really don't mind the missing apples though, how can I, our tiny garden visitors have had fun pecking away at them 💖
Each time I found a fallen apple I would pop it under the blueberry shrub in the garden, a social hot spot for our visiting sparrows because I knew they would have fun pecking away at them. The blueberry shrub itself was planted as a food source for our tiny garden guests 💗
Cleaning The Apples
Having collected the apples and brought them indoors, the next task of course was to thoroughly clean them. They have been hanging about outside all through the summer, in all weathers, after all.
First I filled a large basin with very warm water. Before adding the apples, I added four caps of white vinegar to the water and mixed it through.
The apples were then added and left to soak for a few minutes. After they'd rested in the warm water for a few minutes I used a small, soft bristled brush to gently scrub the surface of each apple, resting each one on the drainer when they were lovely and clean.
When the apples were all cleaned, I then rinsed out the basin very thoroughly and again filled it with fresh, cold water.
The apples were then placed into the fresh water again. Being careful not to be too rough with them to make sure they don't develop bruising which will make them decay and rot faster.
The apples are then allowed to soak again for a few minutes before I removed them from the water one at a time, rinsing them under running cold water as I did and placing them onto the (cleaned with one of my trusty micro fibre cloths) draining board again.
Now that they're clean and you've had a chance to check for any bruising or damage you'll know how many you can store and how many to leave aside to use sooner.
Oh dear! Look how wrinkled my poor finger tips are in the photo above! Worth it to store away lots of lovely apples for future baking dear ones 💖 Unless you're going to use up all of the apples collected, it makes sense to safely store them away to be used as needed.
Safely Storing your harvested apples🍎
If your apples are stored correctly they should last for quite some time. The length of time will vary of course, depending on the variety of apple but apples which ripen (and so are harvested) later will of course stay fresh longer into the year.
Are the apples ready to leave the tree?
To check if your apples are ready to be collected, don't wait until a loved one has a gravity proving moment as my dear Hubby did last year (sorry Honey!) instead cup your hand under an apple and gently lift it and give it a very gentle "half turn." If the apple comes away easily it's ready to be gathered dear ones.
Which apples to store?
Once you've washed your apples, inspect them to decide which can be stored safely and which will have to be eaten or used in recipes sooner.
A little insect damage on the surface of the skin is fine but don't store any apples which are bruised or damaged under the skin. These will be fine to eat or cook with (although you can if you prefer cut away the bruised part) but not to store because this kind of damage might encourage them to rot and this rot can, in turn spread, leading to your healthier apples also rotting.
All of your clean, dry, non-bruised apples can then be wrapped individually in a sheet of kitchen roll/towel or as has been done for decades in newspaper.
Where to store your apples?
Apples should be stored in a cool, dry, frost free environment. Possibilities include a garden shed, workshop or even in a garage. They could be stored (wrapped individually) on a shelf or use a seed tray.
In the right environment they'll last for weeks but you'll have to go check on them regularly honeys, removing any which show signs or deteriorating to prevent damage to the others.
How I've stored our little crop of apples🍎
Having followed the steps above to sort the apples into those I could store and those I'd use straight away to cook with I went to our fridge and fetched the salad/crisper drawer which thankfully in our fridge is quite large.
I carefully lined it with two layers of kitchen roll/towel, just as I had last year...
I then carefully wrapped the apples, individually, in kitchen roll/towel and placed them into the container, being careful not to pack them too tightly to avoid causing bruising.
Once the apples were all wrapped and packed into the container I finished by adding a few layers of kitchen roll/towel across the top of the container for extra protection and placed the crisper/salad drawer back into the fridge.
There are 24 lovely Bramley apples now wrapped and stored in the crisper drawer to be taken out for baking as they're needed but I was also lucky enough to be blessed by a whole basket of apples that will need to be used sooner due to bruising or other small blemishes that left me unhappy to store them.
Now what to do with these gorgeous apples we've been blessed with honeys. As it happens I already know 😊
Earlier this year I promised our next door neighbours I'd make them a lovely big apple crumble when the apples were harvested and since there are so many apples this year it means I can make them a huge tray bake crumble. I wonder if they remember or if the crumble will be a surprise 😊
I'm so grateful to have our little harvest honeys and even more happy to be able to share it. What's been making you happy this week dear ones? I hope you're having a wonderful week, chock full of smiles, laughter and fun.
Till next time dear ones, smile lots and hug every single chance you have 😊 Huggles always x
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