| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| sickpup |
crab applesCan you actually eat crab apples? i remember when i was growing up my mam telling me not to eat them because i would get sick |
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| orangepippin |
I could be wrong, but I think this is not because they are poisonous but because they are just very tart. | ||||||
| cab |
Depends really on what you mean by crab apples. The common craggy old crab tree with little tart apples on it will not yield you something you'd want to chew on, but they're truly marvellous for preserves, wine, apple sauce, etc. But you get such a broad range of wildling and crab apples; big and sourish, small and sweet, tiny and almost red through and sweet, elongated and pale yellow... keep your eyes open, wildling apples are common enough. | ||||||
| sickpup |
there ordinary craggy crab apples,do you have any recipes? | ||||||
| cab |
Recipes eh? Lots. What do you want to make? |
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| sickpup |
preserves | ||||||
| gil |
How To Make Jelly article
and the basics of jelly-making There are other articles in the 'Processing Food' part of the Articles Section on this site that you might also find helpful / of interest. And you could try a forum or site 'Search' for 'crab AND apples', as well as 'crabapples' HTH |
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| dpack |
faking a frost by putting them in the freezer is a good tactic | ||||||
| Jamanda |
Does that make them less tart? I've done that with sloes, but never heard of it with apples. |
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| cab |
Makes 'em cook a little quicker. | ||||||
| gil |
Crabapple harvest looks as though it's going to be very good here this autumn. 
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| bodger |
OOOOeeeeeeeeeeeeeegghhhhhhhh ! There's lots of things you can make with crab apples but eating them ? 
Crab apple jelly is divine.
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| Slim |
Here too!
(cidercidercidercidercidercidercidercidercidercidercidercidercidercider)
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| Bebo |
Can you make cider just from crab apples then, or do you need ordinary ones as well? | ||||||
| gil |
I wonder whether you would also need ordinary apples, as crabapples often don't produce much juice.
winewinewinewinewinewinewine Go on, you know it makes sense 
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| Slim |
I use the term crabapple fairly loosely... And I believe it's sort of a loose term anyway. They're kind of just the "spitters" that are planted from seed, not established varieties. There are lots of naturalized trees around here that may have even been nice varieties but were left to fend for themselves. So, crabapples? I dunno, but they're big enough for pressing! Plus you need good tart apples to balance out the sweet ones, otherwise your cider tastes like... blah. | ||||||
| freebie59 |
Re: crab apples
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| cab |
If either of you ever get up to Low Fell from Weareside, check out Chowdene for fruit foraging. | ||||||
| freebie59 |
is that by any chance near chowdene house cab....what kind of fruit do you find there. |
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| cab |
Chowdene House? I think thats the big old house at the top end of the Dene. Dunno whats in there now. Anyhow... Low Fell end of Gateshead has four Denes really, theres Allerdene furtherst South (where I used to gather blackberries and horseradish), Chowdene (where I got loads; assorted mushrooms, pears, apples, plums, hazdelnuts, walnuts, gooseberries, raspberries, elderberries, various greens...), Dickies Dene (strawberries, but they're long since gone), and Saltwell Park Dene (less good for foraging, but quite lovely). Some outrageously good foraging to be had from Allerdene all along the line of the old coal mine railway route (long since a bridle path - plums, blackberries, raspberries, eight or ten different sorts of good tasty shrooms) from opposite the Angel of the North, going up hill all the way up to Wrekenton... And of course once you get up past Wrekenton towards Windy Nook, or the other way up past Eighton Banks or just up and over into Washington Village, you're almost home to Sunderland 
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| freebie59 |
thanks for the reply cab i will give it a try tomorrow....Matty. |