Frozen apples

It's a little late for this post since apple season is over for the most part, at least in Michigan.

Almost a month ago, the girls and I, along with the little girl next door, went to the local apple orchard. The girls managed to pick a bushel of apples. Now we had managed to go through close to half a bushel a week up to this point, so buying a bushel of apples for $13 was a great deal. The problem? Everyone must have been appled out.

So last week, I realized that some of the apples were starting to get soft. We still had well over 1/2 a bushel left. I have already done applesauce, apple butter and dehydrated apples from my tree and my inlaws' trees. So I started reading, and learned that you can freeze apples.

So I took about 2 hours to process almost all the apples we had left. I think I left just a few of the firmest, nicest apples for eating.

Now frozen apples are great if you want to make pie later, or applesauce, or anything that needs to be cooked. The texture is not going to be right for eating raw. I wish I could figure out the best way to save apples for that.

I wish I had taken pictures of the process but I did not. However the directions are simple. I chopped up and peeled most of the apples. I put them in a water/lemon juice mix to prevent browning, then put them in the freezer in a single layer on a baking sheet. Once they were halfway frozen, I put them in a freezer bag, and put the next batch in. I also sliced some up with the peel still on. These are my breakfast apples.



Fried apples with brown sugar and cinnamon

About 1 cup sliced apples with peels (frozen or fresh)
1 T butter or olive oil (butter is better, but I would rather use olive oil than margarine)
2 T brown sugar
a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg

Heat your butter or oil over medium heat. Add the apples, and stir until soft. Add brown sugar and spices, and stir until thick and gooey. Eat over waffles, pancakes, toast or mixed into oatmeal. It is divine.