Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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Gavin Bl
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When are crab apples good?hello again
More virgin questions, I'm afraid.
There's a couple of crab apple trees behind where I live - when typically are they ready?
Should I expect them to be a particular colour something - or is it a taste thing (bitter as opposed to very bitter  )
cheers
Gav
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tahir
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Extremely variable in everything, some will always stay greenish, some will always be sour, just got to keep your eye on it.
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judith
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I wait until they start falling off the tree.
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cab
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Depends on what they are. Every apple tree grown from a pip is different, so apples can be small and sweet, big and sour, long thin and tasty or squat and nasty. Generally, they're ripe when the seeds start to darken, but to be honest you're best taking a tentative little taste. If your gums peel back from sourness then cut it open, have a look at the seeds and see if its going to ripen further. If it is already nearly ripe or ripe then it ain't getting that much better.
Sometimes apples continue getting sweet after picking, thats how the long storing winter varieties come about. So put some aside, see how they do. If that works out, great, come back next year and store more. In the mean time, pick and use your crabs any way you see fit.
If what you've got is just small, hard and bitter, then just wait till they're ripe and use them.
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dpack
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when the birds eat them 
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nettie
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| judith wrote: | | I wait until they start falling off the tree. |
Same here 
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bodger
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Grab them as soon as you can before anybody else does !
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