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Newbie here so be kind

We have moved into a new house with a large orchard, well we had no fruit trees before and we have 19 now so it seems large to me!

We are on a side of a hill in Shropshire with nothing between the prevailing wind and the trees. This means that whilst our trees are still laden with fruit (apples and pears mainly) we have a lot of windfalls.

Does anyone have any ideas what we can do with them? we don't have any pigs or chickens.

Many thanks

I think that what you see falling now is a part of the June drop where the tree naturally gets rid of overcrowding. You need to help your trees by picking off the excess apples if you have clusters of apples which won't allow them all to mature. I thin them out to about 3 from a cluster of 5 or 6 because they'll probably still thin themselves out in the next few months.

Anything that's fallen now would be too immature to use I would have thought.

Compost them maybe?
Cant think of anything more productive than dumping them I'm afraid.

last year we had a storm that knocked off a load of immature apples.. not june drop but storm damage ! i made apple and ginger jelly... lovely. how big are these windfalls? golf ball size? thats the size i used.

welcome btw

They're ideal for making your own pectin. Here's how ...

http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/Th ... pectin.htm

I feed mine to the rabbits and chickens. I do sort of like the idea of making jelly and pectin from them, though.

MKG wrote:They're ideal for making your own pectin. Here's how ...

http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/Th ... pectin.htm

Excellent link - thanks MKG. I shall bear this in mind when I'm havin my first attempt at jam making on Self Sufficientish Day (or thereabouts!)

I've always let my chickens get them... the chickens are under the apple trees anyway... that said, I might just move the netting and have a go at the apple jelly recipes! YUM.

Apple butter?

I'm glad you mentioned apple butter - making it seems almost like a religion in America and no homesteading book forgets to mention it. I'd like to know what you do with it once you've made it! Is it just a variation on apple sauce?

Apple butter sounds good... do you have a recipe please?

My recipe for apple butter is a bit haphazard, but here goes:

Quarter and core a pile of apples. (You can see how exacting my measurements are.)
Add just enough water, cider, or orange juice to keep it from sticking. Simmer until soft.
Push through a food mill, or let cool and use a blender to puree. Cook slowly until very, very thick.
Add brown sugar or molasses to taste, and a spoonful of cinnamon, mace, ground cloves, ginger, nutmeg, or any other spice that strikes your fancy.

Its done when a small amount on a saucer stands on its own and no longer seeps fluid around the edges.

I use a crock pot to cook it down, as its less likely to scorch. This is good with green apples or crab apples, I like it better than with sweet apples. It tastes better after sitting sealed in the jar for a month than it does fresh, although its darn good fresh too.

Use it like jam, or try some on pancakes!

I forgot, if the apples are too small to core, just simmer them whole, and squish them through a strainer or something to get the seeds. Although if you're using green apples the seeds might not be there enough to worry.