How To Process Your Apples 4 Different Ways

We love to go apple picking and when we were invited to a nearby farm to do just that, of course, we had to go. Our plan was to go and pick some apples, and based on how many we got we’d figure out what to do with them.

Apple picking is one of the best fall activities and we had a great day out picking and eating apples with family. It really was a perfect fall day and we collected so many apples, 116 apples to be exact.

Fresh apples will only keep for a certain amount of time and we knew if we didn’t process them soon after picking they would have started to go bad. There are endless ways to process apples and you might consider processing your gatherings into an apple pie or perhaps a homemade refreshing drink.

Preparation Of Apples

• Step 1: Washed all apples.
  
  
• Step 2: Peeled and chopped all 116 apples. As you can imagine this wasn’t a quick task, the peeling and chopping process took us a couple of hours. Once the apples were peeled and chopped they weighed in at 10lbs.

These are the 4 ways in which we used our apples:

#1 – Apple Juice

When we finished peeling all 116 apples (did I mention it was a 116!😂) we were left with a lot of apple peels. We wanted to put them to use as apple peels should never just be discarded, so we turned them into a refreshing apple juice.

• Step 1: Placed the peels into a large pot.
  
  
• Step 2: Added water and brought to a boil and let simmer for an hour.
  
  
• Step 3: Separated peels from its juice using a colander.
  
  
• Step 3: At this point, the taste was quite bitter and tart, so to sweeten it up we added sugar to taste. The amount of sugar will vary on the number of apple skins boiled, just keep adding until you are happy with the taste.

#2 – Apple Popsicles

This was the easiest way we chose to preserve our apples.

• Step 1: Poured the previously made apple juice into silicone popsicle molds.
  
  
• Step 2: Added food-grade popsicle sticks.
  
  
• Step 3: Placed in the freezer and left until frozen.
  
  
• Step 4: Enjoyed!

#3 – Apple Pie

• Step 1: Next we processed the already prepared apple flesh by adding it to a pot and reducing it on low heat for 4 hours. Once reduced we sweetened it up by adding granulated sugar and cinnamon.
  
  *We had set some of the reduced apples aside for the apple pie filling and the remaining for ‘#4 Apple Cinnamon Fruit Leathers’.
  
  
• Step 2: Added apple pie filling to our homemade pie crust.
  
  
• Step 3: Baked in the oven at 425°F for 30 minutes.
  
  
• Step 4: Removed from oven, let cool, and enjoyed!

#4 – Apple Cinnamon Fruit Leathers

I looked up the ingredients of what is in a typical Fruit Roll-Up:

This is how we made our 3 ingredient Apple Fruit Leathers:

• Step 1: Poured the remaining reduced apple mixture into a blender, and processed until smooth.
  
  
• Step 2: Based on the amount of blended apple we had, lined 4 baking trays with parchment paper (a food-grade silicone mat is most ideal).
  
  
• Step 3: Poured the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets and spread them into a thin layer with a spatula. Once it’s spread, tap the baking sheet on the counter a few times to make sure the mixture is evenly distributed.
  
  
• Step 4: Baked at 170°F (or similar low temperature / as low as your oven will go) for 3-5 hours, until it’s tacky but doesn’t stick to your finger.
  
  
• Step 5: Removed from oven and allowed to cool. Then cut them into strips and rolled them up.
  
  
• Step 6: Enjoyed this delicious snack!

*Store in an air-tight container.

These 3 ingredient (apple, sugar, and cinnamon) fruit leathers were a huge hit with our family. The kids just loved them and they were a great snack to send to school. I love that I can make these healthier fruit roll-ups at home in the oven, and I know exactly what went into them.

If you go apple picking and wonder what to do with all the apples you picked, this will give you some ideas. We only touched on 4 ways to preserve apples, but there are tons of ways to process apples turning them into delicious homemade goods. Apples are so versatile!

More articles on foraging and processing wild edibles.