Apples Here, Apples There...

There is a great deal to be said for basic food. A loaf of bread, still warm from the oven, a hearty, steaming casserole, a crisp, crunchy apple....mmmm, I haven't had breakfast yet and already I'm hungry. Not long ago we got a pretty good deal on 8 pounds of Fuji Apples. For some reason, the boys aren't keen on just biting down on one like I am, so we make more apple desserts. For many years, the apples we were buying from the grocery store would make my throat close. So I tried washing the fruit better, we tried fruit washes, we tried different types from different countries. We bought organic, and then we found a local grower. At an outdoor market one morning, I was encouraged to try a bite of an apple wedge. Tentatively, I bit. And waited. Because the reaction would normally happen pretty quickly, I knew fairly soon that the apple was going to be fine. To say I was happy would be an understatement. Ever since then, we have been careful not to get apples from too far away, and my throat doesn't close after one bite. I can only guess that I was having a reaction to a pesticide. So, when the chance came to buy 8 pounds of apples to benefit a school, my question was "Where are these grown?"

I was relieved to find out they're local. So now we have a kazillion apples. They're good for us, with vitamin C, fiber, natural sugars....all kinds of crunchy goodness. The fuji was originally developed in Japan back in 1952 and brought to this side of the ocean in the '80's. Pretty cool!

But now, what to do with them?

This weekend, I want to dehydrate as many as I can. I'm also looking into making fruit leather (also known as fruit roll-ups), apple cobbler sounds yummy too. I would make pie if I could make a decent pie crust from scratch, but it's never been a skill of mine. Apple butter sounds yummy too, as does slow baked apple wedges.

SLOW BAKED APPLE WEDGES

3/4 cup of liquid honey

1/2 cup of water

3 tbsp lemon juice

1/8 ground nutmeg

8 large apple wedges, peeled and cut into wedges

1. Combine honey, water, lemon juice and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add apple wedges, stirring to coat well.

2. Spread apples in a 10" X 15" pan, pouring any remaining liquid over the top of the apples. Cover with foil and bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes or until apples are soft. Remove foil and bake again until apples are golden and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 75 minutes. Gently turn apples once or twice during baking.

3. Pack into clean jars or plastic containers, cover with tight fitting lids. Store in refrigerator up to 1 week or freeze for longer storage.