My comments were somewhat related. I was having a conversation with a horticulturist 2 days ago (on a site she brought me to), sharing rumors about MS that people in our line of work often share, having actual experience with MS because her huge estate requires a lot of work from people like us and it is located in the area we work. In fact, this person was offered a job on her estate as well, but was warned off accepting it.
This colleague happens to be an ardent cook and suggested that MS recipes are extremely unreliable- I mentioned that my wife also doubts that the woman tries out the recipes she promotes.
If these observations are correct, you may be fortunate that the one you tried worked out for you.
Iāve made an apple pie called Grandmas Ople apple pie. Itās incredibly simple and comes out great. Although I like versions of apple pies my favorite is a simple crisp with no crusts just the topping. You can even buy a already made mix and just add butter.
Thereās apple sauce. I was always reluctant to make apple sauce, thinking how could something that seems so ordinary be worth the effort. Then I made some using slow cooker. Really good, and I think healthy, no added fat or added sugar. Just -
1 cup water
About a tablespoon of lemon juice
A teaspoon of cinnamon, or not
About 8 good sized apples, peel, core, cut into chunks
Stir, cook in covered crock pot on high for 2 or 3 hours until tender.
Mash with potato masher.
Let cool and transfer to a couple of big jars for fridge.
Can be frozen. We use 2 cups in a quart freezer bag, lay flat until frozen.
We love the stuff, and I think itās healthy.
Clean up is very easy.
But some times you gotta have a pie.
If you like vanilla, you can add a teaspoon of that too. Or pumpkin pie spice, but I like plain cinnamon better.
Thank you for the recipe. I donāt know exactly how many apples we have left, but I think my wife wants to make some apple butter. She asked me if I wanted another pie, but I said perhaps later. Canāt believe I turned down another pie! Not this cinnamon roll pie, tho.
I canāt imagine an apple pie without cinnamon, butter, a grating of lemon peel, and vanilla. And, if youāre of a mind, it doesnāt hurt to add a drizzle of a few tablespoons of half and half or even rich cream.
And applesauce is a very good use of excess apples! I like to make a simple tarte by smearing applesauce on the center of a crust, topping with sliced apples, maybe a few pecans and/or raisins, finish with the above (cinnamon, butter, and so on) and then folding the edges partway into the middle of the tarte.
And for those of you that like pumpkin pie and also have a lot of apples: slice apples into the pie crust before filling with pumpkin. Nuts optional.
Been making an apple crisp a week during these isolating times. Not quite at the end of our apples from last seasonās harvest. Used a combination of King David, Jonagold, Spygold, and Briggs Auburn. The Briggs have pretty much lost flavor, but they added bulk.
Hereās the recipe Iāve used for years, adapting mostly from one in the original Vegetarian Epicure.
Apple crisp
12 to 18 apples (varies greatly by size and varieties)
Between 1/3 and 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup pastry flour
Spices to taste:
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Ginger
Allspice
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup rolled oats
Peel, core, and slice apples
Place apples in shallow rectangular casserole dish until nearly to the top
Preheat oven to 350Ā°
Sift all dry ingredients except oatmeal
Cut or mix by hand in butter until crumbly
Mix in oatmeal
Sprinkle topping evenly over apples
Do not mix topping with apples
Cover with aluminum foil and place in oven for 1/2 hour
Remove aluminum foil and continue to bake for 1/2 hour
Remove from oven
Turn off oven (at my age I sometimes need this reminder)
Serve warm alone or with vanilla ice cream or yogurt
Look good, we (or my wife) made an apple crisp this week, too. We used up what was left in our fridge, and some nice Galaās and Macās we got donated to us.
I noticed you used King David, how would you describe them? We have one, itās in the process of blooming for the first time this year, although we lost some blossoms to freezes this week.
It is easy to tell King David is related to the Winesap, yet it has its own distinct flavor. I find it a bit spicier than our winesap but tarter than Stayman. I like its balance of slightly tarter than sweet, but the richness from both. Definitely not thin or bland. They lost their crunch a few weeks ago, but still maintain their flavor.
Thanks, that sounds like a good apple to me. I hope that some of the KD blooms survived. BTW, we also have s Winesap that is flowering for the first time, but it also lost many blossoms to the freeze. But, we ought to get a few apples off it.
It only gets as large as medium, but it remains one of our favorites. Elsewhere on this forum is a discussion about King David and fireblight. Fortunately, up here in the Finger Lakes, fireblight is not quite the concern as it is in warmer climes.
Thanks. I have read that KD is either a Winesap x Jonathan or Winesap x Arkansas Black. What would you say is the more apt lineage based on its flavor, texture, etc?
I have tried both WS and AB from a local orchard, and while WS might be in my top 5 varieties, AB left me unimpressed. It does have a spicy like flavor, but not much else, also may be the hardest/firmest apple Iāve ever tried. I let some store for a month or so to see if they would sweeten or flavor up, but it didnāt much.
Based on your description of its tartness, Iām more likely to believe it has Jonathan as its parent.
My as-yet limited experience with AB suggests that it may need three or four months of storage to be at its best, flavor-wise. Itās quite the keeper.
Thanks. I did keep some into January or so (picked in October), and they sweetened just a bit, but not enough for my liking. Maybe I picked them too early, so perhaps they were too starchy to overcome that?
I donāt grow Jonathan and havenāt tasted one in a long time. I think Iāve only seen Arkansas Black once and didnāt taste it then. So I canāt help here.
Itās possible. I let ours hang pretty late, probably almost to December.
We didnāt like them right off the tree, and we still didnāt like them after theyād had been stored for a month or two. Only the last one, which we tried in late March or early April, was appreciated by all. Iāll likely keep the graft based on that.
That said, we prefer GoldRush as well. I grafted a second tree of that last season.
Yes. We like them quite a bit and tend to eat them up fairly quickly, so there arenāt any left to store.
