response 30 of 130:

Sep 6 16:15 UTC 1998

Fall is my favorite season.  And part of what makes fall
special is making applesauce.  The first batch of this
season is in the crockpot and the house smells full of 
cinnamon even though the windows are all wide open.

I'm wondering if Dan (danr) would care to share his
recipe for apple pie.  I hear it's quite special.

response 32 of 130:

Sep 8 01:33 UTC 1998

out of curiosity, has anyone ever dared to make
the 'mock apple pie' that is usually found on
the side of a ritz cracker box?

response 34 of 130:

Sep 8 05:41 UTC 1998

  My mother's grandfather used to make them all the time. I personally think
that they are evil. My mother has made noises about one day making one, but
that is usually tabled when I remind her that apples are plentiful, and that
crackers, no matter how good they taste, are no substitute for apples.

response 36 of 130:

Sep 9 02:33 UTC 1998

I had one many, many years ago (or, rather, a slice of one).  I too recall
it as being just fine.  At this point I'd rather have real fruit, though.

response 38 of 130:

Oct 11 13:00 UTC 1998

Mary: What do you add to your apple sauce?

Today is supposed to be applesauce making day for my mother and I, but
I tore a muscle in my apple-mushing shoulder, so applesauce for little Meg's.
Hopefully next weekend though!  All we ever add (when we make it for 
canning for the year anyway), is just a VERY little sugar (A cup for several
gallons of sauce).  If I'm making in small batches for myself, it can tend
to add brown sugar and cinnamon.  :)  YUM!!!

response 40 of 130:

Oct 13 13:03 UTC 1998

The applesauce recipe I use is entered in this item, response #1.
It makes for some pretty potent applesauce.  If you like it
milder, and more on the Mott's side, try it first with only
one tablespoon of cinnamon and omit the Calvados.

Over time I've come to like the applesauce less chunky so now
I peel the apples first.

This recipe makes great applebutter too.  Just cook it (again, in the
crockpot on low) for 24 hours.  I know, that sounds kind of scary, but it
works great. 

response 42 of 130:

Sep 5 19:32 UTC 2007

Ok, with school being back in session again, it's now unofficially fall.
 So what's the  latest on the area cider mills and apple-picking places?

I stopped by Wiards once, on a weekday, late last fall--I wanted to
aviod the apparent ' carnival'-like atmosphere that goes on over the
weekends there.  To me, it seemed  very commercial as well as a bit on
the pricey side.  We used to go to the Franklin  Cider Mill when we were
kids [when we lived closer to that area] and loved the cider  and the
plain donuts [the *only* kind of donuts to consume with cider, IMHO.  I
did  return for a visit there in the late '90s sometime [a brother and
SIL live nearby].  

After the family moved to AA, we used to go apple picking every fall but
I don't  remember for sure which place we went to [but do have photos
that I took on one of  the occasions; we had some family friends go with
us and it was one of those  absolutely gorgeous autumn days].  And
somewhat more recently, I went to one with  another brother and family
and with my SIL's brother's family-though this one was  somewhere in the
Grand Rapids area. No, actually, I take that back, it was a pumkin 
patch outing [I have cool pictures of that, too].

response 44 of 130:

Sep 6 02:09 UTC 2007

We found two really good apple trees on Whitmore Lake just before N.
Territorial, and a few other not so good ones.  About half way to there are
a few sour cherry trees but they are deep in poison ivy and the apple trees
are not.  North Campus has several apple trees.  There are a few near the U
of M Hospital.  A couple in the median strip of some big road south of town,
a few good ones in an apartment complex parking lot (our secret).  City Hall
has a couple of trees.
Today (and yesterday when I started) we managed to dry a dryer full of sliced
drying tomatoes using a solar reflector and with a small computer fan on top
of the dryer.  It reaches 105-140 deg F depending on time of day.  You are
supposed to start drying at 95-105 and raise it gradually to 140 for a short
time at the end to kill any insect eggs.  Next we will try apples - dried
slices and maybe dried apple sauce (leather).  I always hated to run a heated
dryer when it was 95 degrees out.
People used to dry lots of apples and make pies from them.  
I have also dried pears, which need peeling first and are a mess, pitted
cherries, mulberries (they get very hard and tasteless), apricots (easy),
squash (easy).  A friend dried avocadoes for fun.  Bananas are a sticky mess.
I might try eggplant and pepper but they are easy to freeze.
Apple butter is very time and energy consuming.  Frozen apple sauce is easy.

response 46 of 130:

Sep 6 19:55 UTC 2007

We have one, but don't see any reason to make apple butter instead of apple
sauce.  It wastes a lot of heat and generates a lot of steam, which makes the
dehumidifier run more.  The dehydrator also generates steam but now it is
steaming the outdoors and not generating heat.  We have made pear butter.
The pears need preserving during warm weather.  It is a lot more energy
efficient to just freeze everything (or solar dry it), as well as easier.

response 48 of 130:

Sep 6 22:26 UTC 2007

We have a glass bowl that goes into the solar reflector which heats it to 140
or so, and could leave the top ajar, but I don't see any reason to make apple
butter.  I like dried apples and they are less work.
Jim is going to try a pressure cooker in the reflector, and a bread pan.
The reflector/oven are on loan from friends.
We should learn to bake raccoon, opossum, groundhog, and squirrel.  Only got
two skunks so far.  Two nights ago some very large critter pulled the trap
door open, bending some rather sturdy metal.  I suggested it was a ground hog
that can get through tree roots.  Today just a small opossum.

response 50 of 130:

Sep 7 00:51 UTC 2007

Yep, I love apple butter on bread. I haven't had any in ages and ages,
though.  I think I  may try making apple sauce as well as apple butter
[if I can get enough apples this fall]. I  like and would eat them both;
*that's* why you bother to make something--if you like it  well enough.
If ya don't think its worth the trouble, that's fine, too. If you enjoy
it  somewhat and don't want to heat/steam up the house using just a
crock pot, then check  out the farmer's market; they often have people
that sell it [and often, in various-sized  jars. Then you'd have a jar
to recycle].

response 52 of 130:

Sep 7 12:26 UTC 2007

Sindi, how do you go about drying apples?  I enjoy dried apples,
especially the ones I got  at a vegeatable/fruit type market not too
long ago.

And I agree that potato pancakes are good with applesauce; they're good
with sour  cream, too. I remember growing up, my dad used to make potato
pancakes but for  whatever reason, we'd have them on a piece of bread
and then topped with a bit of salt  and/or pepper.