Apples n things

Change of plan - rained so garden has been put off hopefully until tomorrow; never mind the set back I have been in the kitchen playing. 

I always keep in cooking apples either already prepared in a puree in the freezer, potted (bottled) or fresh.  In fact there was a time in my llife where I never had to buy apples, we just used to get them from my Nans. But since Nan passed over have had to buy them.  I think that is why I dream of having a home in the countryside, with a bit of land my own veg plot, orchards and Nuttery.

In any event  I had some apples to puree and put in the freezer which I have since done. Nothing fancy has been added to the apple just a little sugar and I mean a little sugar and a knob of butter and the apples cooked until a thick puree although with chunky bits in if you know what I mean. A ready supply of prepared apples for a busy household.  Then when a pot of the frozen puree is taken out of the freezer at a later date it can be used to make mini apple pies, as a sauce, to fill a large pie or form the basis of a cake or served with ice cream makes a very quick pud.  I have seven pots of apple puree; six have gone into the freezer. [ the seventh is reserved for the large joint of roast pork which is destined for Sunday lunch tomorrow. It will give us a good couple of meals and the rest is destined to be frozen in slices in the freezer (it is going to be sliced up on the meat slicer once cold) and then used to form either the basis of a roast meal during the week or to be used cold in Sandwiches.  I like to try and get as much as I can for my money and make something out of relatively little  I have found that buying a larger piece of meat if I can afford it means that the meat cooks nicer and does not dry out quite so quickly.  The piece we got for tomorrow cost £9.37 so not too bad.  Just hope it makes good eating.]

Anyway I digress.  I have prepared 2kg of Bramley cooking apples and I have the skins left over - what a waste on a normal basis they will either end up in the dustbin or the composter (composter preferably) and that just is not good enough in my book so  I have been rootling around for some ideas to get something useful out of nothing and have come up with the following:  Did you realise that the skin of apples and the cores, contains pectin the natural setting agent used for setting jams and jellies.  It is much better to make your own so it is worth keeping the peels and the cores and freeezing them until you have enough to make a batch of the compost jelly (the addition of sugar makes it into the jelly) or alternatively a batch of pectin, which can be bottled and hot water bath processed to make it keep longer for use later on in the year when there is Strawberry Jam and low pectin fruit jellies and jams to make).

Being a great fan of the Pam Corbin River Cottage Preserves book I turned first to this little gem and decided that as I had the odd orange and lemon that had dried out and was really past its best, together with a lime, seville oranges and the apple peel that I would have a go at making the compost jelly.  Its bubbling as we speak to get as much as the flavour out of the apples, and citrus fruit as I can. It will then go overnight into a Jelly bag and I will complete making it tomorrow.  It will come in handy for having on toast or crumpets or for using with chicken, home made chinese etc.

Will post my adaptation of the recipe later on

Right I am off to play again.

Catch you later

Pattypan