Apples on a wonderful late winter rainy day

This is what I do when it rains; cook, of course!  I converted the remaining half bushel of November 2010’s pie apples left in our spring house into pie slices in bags in the freezer. We had a mixture of Pink Lady, Albemarle Pippin and Fugi so I mixed them all together.    For as long as the resulting six bag’s worth last we can have apple pie or tart on a whim!  For each pie’s worth I toss the slices with 2 TBLS lemon juice and put in a zip bag with the air squeezed out to keep the fruit from browning.  They will last in the freezer several months.

After peeling and slicing I took all the cores, put them in a stock pot, filled it with water and cooked the whole mass down for an hour or so.  Once strained I will have quite tasty apple ‘juice’ to boil down to a quart or so and use to add apple essence to pie or other creations.

Next week I’ll take the half bushel left of the Winesap and make applesauce to see us through till fall.