Thursday, August 13, 2015

What the Heck to Do... part 1

... with all those crab apples!?

When +ADW and I bought this house, we didn't know what we were getting in terms of garden and yard flora. I knew that there are two cherry trees that blossomed in two different colours (spliced with a white branch on a pink tree) but I wasn't entirely certain about what else was on the property. I soon found out that I have a really cute little crab apple tree that is very hard working as far as a tree goes.

In the spring, I saw all these wonderful flowers and thought absolutely nothing other than "awwww look how pretty that tree is!" I'm a biology graduate... I should honestly know better: flowers lead to fruits! DUH. The cute little tree is now over-burdened with pink-purple-red fruits about 1.5 inches. I have no idea what to do with these things!! Ariel enjoys eating them, but isn't allowed to eat too many. My parents (who live across the street--yes, it's an 'Everybody Loves Raymond' thing) like eating them but again, only eat a handful every now and again.

As typical owners of crab apple trees think, what the devil am I going to do with all these apples?? I looked up some recipes to see what I could do... and they range from easy to a pain in the butt. I decided to try the easiest approach, slow roasting these babies with cinnamon.

You'll need the following supplies:

  • Crab apples
  • Oil for high heat
  • Ground cinnamon

Then you follow the directions...
  1. Wash apples and leave stem etc, intact
  2. Lay them in a low walled baking sheet to dry
  3. Pre-heat oven to 300F
  4. Drizzle/coat the apples with an oil good for high heat
  5. Hand mix the apples to coat with oil
  6. Sprinkle ground cinnamon and again, hand mix
  7. Pop them into the oven
  8. Roast for 1.5 hours or until the apples look wrinkly or have split skins. I'd pull one out to test after the 1 hour mark. Also, you'll note that depending on the size of the apples, the time might change.
Unexpected bonus: the entire house just smelled of apples and cinnamon. That lovely aroma alone is reason enough to do this!

Glossy apples ready to jump into the oven!

Sprinkling on the cinnamon

Slow roasted crab apples!

I was chatting with my neighbour and they said I could have them with a pork roast (savoury) or drizzle maple syrup on them and have them like that, or add ice cream! I tried a few without and then with maple syrup. They are quite tart! It's a bit of a pain to avoid the core but not THAT troublesome. I will probably be making some more (since the tree hasn't stopped) this weekend and have these ones with pork chops or something.

4 comments:

  1. huh interesting!! i've never thought of actually trying to do something with them

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    1. right? i didn't know people actually DO stuff with them. but it makes sense since there are so damn many of them.... :|

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  2. we should just keep roasting small amounts to make the house smell really good!

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    Replies
    1. the thought has crossed my mind but i haven't figured out what to do with all the roasted apples yet....

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