It makes me sad to see pounds of rhubarb wilting away, or pounds of raspberries rotting on the branch, and pounds upon pounds of apples laying damaged and wasted on lawns throughout urban areas. I was unable to find statistics on how much urban fruit goes unharvested each year, but I imagine the number is quite alarming!
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In 2010, Toronto urban gleaning group, Not Far From The Tree (NFFTT), was able to pick 19,695 pounds of fruit, from 228 trees. Sweet cherries, sour cherries, mulberries, plums, apples, crab apples, pears, grapes, apples, and elderberries dominate the harvest; that was then divided between pickers, homeowners, and local food banks.
In 2011, Food Banks Canada estimates 158 million pounds of food was distributed to food banks across Canada. Are we seeing the connection yet? Something needs to be done to get the word out, food is precious, and we should not let it go to waste!
Urban gleaning groups have sprung up all over North America, but are still relatively unknown.
Groups close to my home are: Calgary Urban Harvest and Edmonton Fruit Rescue. If a google search near your city doesn't provide any results, check out this document - How to Organize an Urban Fruit Harvest, and get your community involved!
Here are some of the apples I processed this fall. This 60 pound basket of apples came courtesy of a friend who dropped them off on my door step because he "knew I would do something with them." These apples are small, have a wonderfully sweet flavor, but a poor texture. I have worked with these apples before, and learned that even when perfectly ripe, they have a soft and grainy texture. They bake up mushy with a grainy texture, and did not make good applesauce either. So, when this batch showed up I was determined to figure out a great way to utilize them - I figured out 3!
1. Apple Juice
You can make apple juice by boiling apples in water, then straining (recipe here), but since I have a juice extractor, that is the tool I chose to use. The juice was fabulous, and needed no sugar or water - it was perfect! I pasteurised it, and then canned it for long term storage.
2. Dehydrated Apple Slices
The flavor of these apples made these apples slices the best I have ever had! The grainy texture disappeared, and left chewy goodness! I sprinkled mine with cinnamon. There are instructions for your oven or dehydrator here.
3. Apple Fruit Leather
I used the apple pulp from the juice extractor, and added back in a bit of sugar and lemon juice (because all the sweet juice has been extracted and dehydrated it. A recipe for fruit leather in the oven is here, and is just as easy to make in the dehydrator if you have one.
I ended up with 5 litres of pure apple juice, 5 pounds of apple slices, and 2 pounds of fruit leather. The chickens also had their fill of scraps! It took me a couple of days (not straight) to get all this done, but the effort is well worth the rewards!
Here are some of the apples I processed this fall. This 60 pound basket of apples came courtesy of a friend who dropped them off on my door step because he "knew I would do something with them." These apples are small, have a wonderfully sweet flavor, but a poor texture. I have worked with these apples before, and learned that even when perfectly ripe, they have a soft and grainy texture. They bake up mushy with a grainy texture, and did not make good applesauce either. So, when this batch showed up I was determined to figure out a great way to utilize them - I figured out 3!
1. Apple Juice
You can make apple juice by boiling apples in water, then straining (recipe here), but since I have a juice extractor, that is the tool I chose to use. The juice was fabulous, and needed no sugar or water - it was perfect! I pasteurised it, and then canned it for long term storage.
2. Dehydrated Apple Slices
The flavor of these apples made these apples slices the best I have ever had! The grainy texture disappeared, and left chewy goodness! I sprinkled mine with cinnamon. There are instructions for your oven or dehydrator here.
3. Apple Fruit Leather
I used the apple pulp from the juice extractor, and added back in a bit of sugar and lemon juice (because all the sweet juice has been extracted and dehydrated it. A recipe for fruit leather in the oven is here, and is just as easy to make in the dehydrator if you have one.
I ended up with 5 litres of pure apple juice, 5 pounds of apple slices, and 2 pounds of fruit leather. The chickens also had their fill of scraps! It took me a couple of days (not straight) to get all this done, but the effort is well worth the rewards!
Other things to do with City Apples:
Crab Apple Butter
Crab Apple Jelly
Spiced Crab Apples
Crab Apple Schnapps
Crab Apple Bread
Crab Apple Sauce
Regular apples or crab apples will work for all of the above recipes, oh, and don't forget Apple Pie & Apple Crisp! The possibilities are endless...
*The crabapple is the only apple native to North America.
*Apples harvested from an average tree can fill 20 boxes that weigh 42 pounds each.
*Most apples can be grown farther north than most other fruits, because they blossom late in spring, minimizing frost damage.
*Archeologists have found evidence that humans have been enjoying apples since at least 6500 B.C.
More Apple facts here.
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