Last weekend I helped Granny work up the rest of the apples from last year. She had about two dishpans full she’d been keeping in the refrigerator for eating on. The apples were getting pretty shriveled so she said we better go ahead and put them up.
She peeled and sliced one pan while I did the other. I put mine in the freezer and she made applesauce with her’s. Many old folks in Appalachia call applesauce fruit. Granny is one of them.
The apples came from farmer Tim just down the road. Granny buys as many as she can from him every fall of the year.
I love apples. I want mine to be crisp, crunchy, and sweet. Granny likes her apples on the sweet side but she likes them meller which means soft.
At the end of the day Granny was happy to have the apples worked up and I was happy to have helped her.
Last night’s video: Matt’s Favorite Knives.
Tipper
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Hi Tipper. I just wanted to tell you I think it’s really so sweet that you help your mama with tasks like putting up her apples. Our time with our mamas is so precious, and you are such a good example of a truly caring woman and daughter. Have a wonderful rest of your day.
Hi Tipper! I love the kind of apples you do. Crisp, sweet, crunchy! I found the perfect apple like that at Aldi’s. It’s called Envy, but it’s not available at all Aldi’s because my Ohio sister and my Pennsylvania daughter don’t have them. Pineville, NC where I lived last year had them so perhaps they are available in all of NC. Now I’m in Pacolet, SC and the town close to me has them. Absolute best apple I have ever eaten!
Sliced honey crisp apples smothered with peanut butter is my favorite apple and snack!
The picture of your mom’s hands is precious and so is mom and daughter time working together. Making memories.
My favorite are golden delicious and I love that picture of granny’s hands.
what I wouldnt give to be able to help my mom or my grandma again—heck I would even like to help my grandfathers or my daddy with something outside…..thank God I have the memories (so many young people have never helped a parent or grandparent do anything at all so they do not have any precious memories to look back on like we do)
I love me a good meller red delicious apple sometimes. But I am not a true fan of applesauce, apple pies, etc.
So sweet !!!
Great minds all think a lot. I took the last of my apples out of the fridge last week and put up applesauce too. And maybe it’s an age thing. I also like apples on the firm side but my father liked them meller too. He grew up with an apple orchard. For them apples were treated more like a vegetable, most meals included a bowl of fried apples, breakfast, dinner or supper, no matter there was always fried apples.
First thing, I love the picture. Granny’s precious hands hard at work and all the colors match, the apples, bowl, even what she has on. I do love a sweet, crisp apple and I am always looking for a new one to try. I think my favorite is a honey crisp. From the time my granddaughter was old enough to eat an apple, I would peel one and slice it like french fries. She’s eleven and when she comes to visit, just about every time she will ask if I can fix her some apple fries. I asked her one time didn’t she want a whole apple, and she said, “GiGi, there is just something special about your apple fries.” She loves them alongside a piece of cheddar cheese.
Ed, I lived beside of grandparents and tried to spend every second of my life with my Granddaddy. He had false teeth and would scrap an apple with a knife blade (kitchen case knife) when he was eating it. It would be similar to applesauce. This was back in the 50 and 60’s.
I’ve seen my dad do that too. He always cautioned us on which blade we could use for apples since the other was used to cut his finger and toe nails 🙂
What a treat for you to be there to help Granny work the apples. I have no doubt Granny’s apple sauce is delicious! My husband considers apple pie a fruit, so at least Granny’s fruit is a little healthier.
good morning and God bless you, I remember a barrel of sour apples, as a child, I think someone was making apple Brandy, God bless you friends have a great day
Store-bought apples are almost tasteless compared to the ones at a hard-to-find apple orchard. I agree with Granny; I prefer a sweet meller apple like Golden Delicious. Our health and safety guy at work used to tell the new hires during orientation that since they are part-time and only get a fifteen-minute break every day, they should bring an apple to eat during that time. He said you should never peel an apple especially if you are a smoker.
Oh how I loved crisp, crunchy apples, and my Mother did too! I liked granny smith to bake with and I’ve made some great applesauce. Back in 2009, I had some bad nights walking the floor through the night with pain in my stomach, finally the doctors figured out it was my gallbladder. They took it out and I remember talking with the doctor after and he told me I could eat anything now and it would not hurt my stomach, that is, he paused and said, well, you can’t eat raw apples. I was shocked, I said, “Doctor, I love apples!!!” Why can’t I eat them, he said I could eat baked apples but raw apples have pectin in them and that is what bothered me. I have beautiful apple orchards all around me here in SC PA and I haven’t been able to eat a raw one since my gallbladder operation and I used to eat one about every day.
We were going down to MS for Christmas one year and I knew how my Mother LOVED crisp apples so I went to an orchard in Adams County and bought one of their heirloom apples – Mutsu. It was a beautiful red apple that was crisp and crunchy and Mother absolutely loved it. Oh how I would love to bite into one and maybe one day I will throw caution to the wind and bite into one:)
Shred the apple and try it that way.
I bet the applesauce she made tastes really good. It was nice that y’all got to work together to process the apples. When I was little our church had a picnic day. One of the activities was a contest to see who could peel the longest apple peel. I remember seeing the older people peeling those apples and how long and thin the peelings were. At home my mother would not let me peel an apple or a potato because I would cut away too much of the apple/potato. Try as I might, to this day I still cannot peel a long or thin ribbon off an apple like the ones in my memory from the church picnic; maybe I need a sharper knife. I want to try wrapping some apples and some green tomatoes in newspaper for storing to see how that turns out.
My favorite part of your post today is Granny’s hands. I wonder how many apples her hands have touched, put up & served in her lifetime. And how many meals she’s made, how many times she’s held a small child, how many times she’s used her hands to show tenderness & love. A beautiful thought. A lovely lady.
Love the site of the wooden bowl of apples that is sometimes seen when you are preparing a meal.
I use both fruit and meller. That makes me ancient I guess?
Meller is when apples are at their very best. That’s when the sugars are at their peak. That’s also when people whose teeth are past their prime can still enjoy them.
I love the picture of Granny putting up apples! 🙂 I could almost smell the freshness of the apples even if they were from last season! Apples have always been a favorite since childhood. We had a small orchard with many varieties along with some other kinds of fruit trees. Apples and pears are two fruits I preserve every year – sometimes in chunky sauce form, and a combo of both mixed together. I never add sugar when canning, finding them sweet enough. I tried my hand at your peel/core jelly Tipper, but found it didn’t set up as much as I had hoped. ( I think I used a smidgeon too much liquid for the CERTO) But it was still wonderful on oatmeal, pancakes, even biscuits – or added to muffins or a cake loaf, so thank you for sharing your recipe with us.
I like Honey crisp and any of the “honey” type. I’ve always liked Red and Yellow Delicious. My wife’s favorite is Granny Smith. As a kid we had a variety of types and I ate whatever was available. We also wrapped them in newspaper and kept them in the basement to eat throughout the Winter.
I remember when I was little sometimes my mom would make me warmed applesauce and toast for breakfast. It was so good!
Carolyn,
That sounds like a delicious breakfast. I love to make a peanut butter sandwich and dip it in applesauce. Yummy!
My mother always loved both red and golden delicious. Like Granny, she preferred them to me soft. My youngest daughter is the same way and she made an awful face yesterday when I told her that Granny Smith used to be my favorite apple to eat. I still like some tartness but want the fruit to be crisp. Pink Lady apples are delicious and there’s a Pink Lady Apple flavored kombucha that is really good. I’ve never like applesauce, preferring to just slice and eat them fresh or dry them for snacking.
I’ve got to say apples are my favorite fruit bar none! I eat one or two a day and I like a sweet golden or red delicious from the SHENENDOAH VALLEY the best. None go to waste here at my shanty either-I mean I’m church mouse rich and can’t be wasteful about any good thing the Lord has blessed me to have. I peel and slice and freeze and whenever I need cooked apples-I have aplenty! Waste not, want not I believe. My aunts used to say something about getting a whole peel off as opposed to one piece at a time and I pride myself on long ribbons of peel although I got no idea why….if I could I’d probably hug granny and squeeze her every day cause I surely do miss my mommy!!! I’d hug mommy, squeeze her, pat her hands in mine and wait on her hand and foot! Oh what a GEM she was and let’s be honest the elderly are our greatest national treasure besides babies!!!! Let’s love and pray for LIFE and SOULS today cause it’s very good indeed!!!! Give my love and well wishes to granny and the younguns!!!
Sadie, the story I heard is if you take off the peeling all in one piece, you should throw it. The peel will form the initial of your sweetheart.
I try to make applesauce every year and usually have some on hand to eat for a snack or even a meal if paired with cheese or peanut butter….but my best memory of apples is of of my Daddy and his pocket knife. He always had a snack while watching tv in the evening. Apples were kept on the closed in porch at the rear of the house. He would send me to get an apple and I still remember the feel of cold as I opened the door and the smell of apples. I would give him the apple and he would pull out his pocket knife. He would peel the apple, often in one curly ribbon of peel, then slice a piece of apple for me, then one for him. What a wonderful way to share an apple. If I close my eyes, can still see the blade of the knife coming toward me with a fat piece of apple balanced on the blade. Sweet,precious times.
Freida, thank you for sharing your memory with us. I could clearly see it in my mind as I read and it’s a lovely, warm scene.
I love apples. My dad used to pick apples from an orchard near us in the fall to help supplement his income and I went with him and helped pick them. He was paid a certain amount of money and often he would bring home bushels of apples. Mom and I would put them up by canning or freezing and the extra bushels would be stored in a little room off the utility room along with other vegetables Dad grew in his garden. We had apples all winter and Mom also canned apple butter and applesauce every year. Dad planted some apple trees later and even grafted different ones. I’ve always liked the McIntosh apples to eat and cook with but nowadays you cannot find them. Some of the apples that I grew up with in northeastern Ohio are: Braeburn, Cortland, Jonathan, Jonagold, Rome, Winesap, Northern Spy, McIntosh. Whenever I made an apple pie I always use around three types of apples. They made the best pies. The apples in the stores here in Va do not include the ones I mentioned above except you can find Macs occasionally. My husband and I planted a couple of apple trees where we live now but they have not done well. The bugs usually get them.
Jonathans are my favorite, though I do like Winesaps. I can’t remember the last time I saw them in a grocery store. I tried ordering them one year from an orchard in Michigan but they weren’t very good and looked to me like the leftovers from the previous year’s crop. I guess these two varieties are destined to be just a memory for me now. I guess most folks prefer their apples sweet rather than tart.
I also like the McIntosh apple and can find them around here in the fall, grown in the apple orchards around Hendersonville, NC. When my wife was living we would usually take a day trip up to Hendersonville and the Chimney Rock area of NC in the fall of the year. I wrote this before, not only would we buy apples but it was mandatory that we also buy mountain cabbage not only for us but also for some neighbors.
We have never had any “eating” apples on our place. I like a crisp slightly tart apple to eat. My grandson loves to eat the Granny Smith apple. When growing up, we had a horse apple tree that my Grandmother and Mother would use the apples for jelly, drying, and cooking cobbler pies. Buying and putting up (canning/freezing) peaches was done more than things I mentioned with apples. I like to joke and say “eating an apple a day may keep the doctor away, eating an onion a day will keep everyone away!”
I like a crisp sweet apple as well. I love that Granny, with your help, got her apples put up. Granny never wastes a thing! I saw all the beautiful things she has made when I watched Katie’s keepsake video. I’m with Katie, she does not want to part with any of these treasures!
I’m with you. I like a nice crisp sweet apple. Honeycrisp is my favorite. However, a chunky sweet applesauce is also good.
I love apples any way they’re done up. Nothing better than a sweet, little tart, crisp apple. Our neighbor has a very old tree with just such apples. The apples are few and they are kinda bumpy, but boy howdy they are good eating. Never enough to put up, but just enough to enjoy.
Glad Granny has enjoyed them for so long. Our grandmother used to wrap each apple in newspaper and sit them in a box under the floor. They kept all winter.
Debbie, in the past, I have wrapped green tomatoes in newspaper and put them under the bed or in a closet and kept them during the winter. Just keep an eye on them and take the ones out as they begin to ripen. They would be about the same as grocery store tomatoes, not much taste to them.