HARVEST. The very word gives a warming glow, the thought of gathering in the food grown in sun kissed fields. Harvesting is the process of gathering a crop from the fields. But we harvest too in our gardens.
The gathering of the food was of such importance that many societies and religions have a feast or festival and a blessing.
The word "Harvest" comes from the Old English word hærfest, meaning the crop gathering season. The word has come to mean the entire process of gathering the product.
This year, I have been given a mountain of apples, far more than I could possibly use. I found an old farmhouse recipe book which was full of ideas.
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Comments
Thank you Katie. Apples do last and your friend was right - ugly apples still taste good.
At the moment the upside apple cake is going down well as it uses up so many apples and is so easy to make. Good luck with your harvest. I think nature provides us with what we need at this time of year.
Lovely ideas as to what to do with apples in the fall. A friend just gave me a huge bag of orchard apples, he told me, "Now they are very ugly but I promise they are the best apple you will eat or one of the best." He was right on both counts but I can only eat so many apples so fast, give many away and share and still left with tons of apples, I thought of you and your ideas, so thanks again for this great guide to using apple harvest wisely
As requested I have added the Irish Apple upside down cake recipe above.
Yes indeed. There is a feeling of satisfaction knowing that we have provided all these lovely, wholesome things for our families.
It s interesting that you posted this today as I am doing an Irish apple upside cake with my Harvest today when my grandchildren visit. I am posting the recipe later after Church this morning.
I am particularly interested in your dried cherries . Care to share your recipe?
We have three apple trees that we try to beat the deer in picking. Or the bears! Or raccoons! This year we had a good harvest. I tend to wrap each apple in paper and put in a cool dark place, which is my root cellar. That way I can focus on canning and preserving some of the other fruit that doesn't keep as well and keep the apples to use later. I dry my cherries and make preserves from pears and plums and blackberries. Like you, I enjoy looking at all the coloured fruit in jars on my shelves. Wouldn't it be fun to trade a few with each other?
TY.
I just love doing preserves of any kind. Pickles, jams, sauces, cordials.
There is a great feeling of achievement when I look at shelves of my preserves in pretty pots. jars and bottles.
All of your apple to use apples is delicious! We do not have any fruit tress, I wish we did! My dad had all kinds of fruit trees when we were growing up. Great article, thanks for sharing!
Thank you Kimbesa.
We are keen foragers. Close to here, we have community orchards and anyone can go and pick fruit for free! Yesterday my son's family picked pears and blackberries there. I made blackberry crumble for Sunday dinner in the evening.
The apples are just starting here also. I believe that Nature has given us what we need for our health at every season of the year. If we can preserve some of it, all the better.
My dad used to have blackcurrants, plums and rhubarb in the garden and Mum would have jams and jellies made and potted within 45 mins of the blackcurrants being picked. To this day my favourite jams are still blackcurrant jam and plum jam. Nothing however tastes as good as my mother's jam from freshly picked garden fruit. Bliss on the taste buds.
Thank you for these recipes! Apple season is just getting started here. We have lots of orchards in the general area, so plenty of choices for fresh apples.
I made some delicious Apple and Marrow chutney last Autumn. I love doing preserves.