Apples and Pears might be Cockney rhyming slang for stairs but here they are the real edible things and what a good crop this year, so much better than 2019 when I only put a couple of bags of apple slices in the freezer.
The apples are good old Bramleys, they are being peeled, cored, sliced into a bowl of salt water - which keeps them white without giving a salty taste and then bagged for the freezer.
The pears are a problem. From experience I know they go slimy when frozen. They are also a bit tasteless. Rock hard off the tree and often going brown in the middle before actually getting soft enough to eat. No good leaving them on the tree to ripen either.............they fall off too easily. So I've been cooking up a few at a time with some lemon juice in the water so they don't go brown. They are edible like that so not going to waste but given a choice I'd rather eat almost any other fruit!
The other pear tree has pears of Conference shape but I don't think they are Conference they don't freeze well either and yet at the smallholding my definitely Conference were fine frozen. They are a bit later so still hanging on the tree.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
You must try Pears in Red Wine, cooked in the microwave and then frozen. Also, Pears Baked in Honey, cooked in the oven. Both are delicious and easy to do.
ReplyDeleteWine is something I dont buy - so will stick to water
DeleteSpiced Pear Chutney by Tom Kerridge on BBC Good Food site is one I have made and would make good Christmas gifts !
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of pear chutney - have tried various recipes in the past
Deletei have a twin pear tree this year it hasnt glutted and will provide us with more than enough , the cooking pears always look a bit mangy and battered but once they are peeled they are gorgeous the eating side are MRs secret witness and he eats at least 3 a day in the season fresh off the tree
ReplyDeleteMy Family apple has some small red apples on one branch that are not much good - Enjoy those pears
DeleteI have an absolute glut of apples and pears here this year. There are two apple trees which won't even get picked - I leave them for the birds. We started picking just the largest on the apple tree by the drive - 3 boxes full and you wouldn't know any had been picked! This one is a cooker then after storage mellows enough to eat. My cooker I used to think was a Bramley, but it cooks up to a fluff, so is probably not.
ReplyDeleteThe pears take forever to ripen (but are my husband's favourite fruit). I will have to try and get some more boxes from the greengrocery shed at Abergwili - in a normal year we would have had plenty but now we have food deliveries, we have had access to none.
No room in the freezer so neighbours are about to be inundated with fruit!
Lovely for your neighbours - bet they will be pleased
DeleteTry your pears in red wine and honey, maybe with a clove or two if you like clove. My neighbour lost all their pears in those two August storms.
ReplyDeleteWine isn't something I buy - shame about the neighbours pears - I'm surprised my conference lookalikes are still well fixed
DeleteP.S. Perhaps I should try bottling the pears - my other try at bottling resulted in well-preserved fruit but I couldn't get INTO the jar as the lids were stuck solid! Bit pointless that. Where did I go wrong?
ReplyDeleteI gave up on bottling a long time ago - always something went wrong
DeleteHow lucky you have to have apples and pears I still have lots of damsons. Somebody in the village had put cooking apples in a box to help yourself I had a couple and will stew them.
ReplyDeleteHazel c uk 🌈🌈🌈
I put lots of smaller cooking apples in a box by the footpath gate and people have been taking a few
DeleteHave you thought of making Pears in Brandy? Just quarter them, cook them lightly in a mild sugar syrup and then put into sterilised jam jars adding a little of the cooking water and then topping up with any cheap brandy (or other alcohol I suppose). The longer you can leave them the nicer they taste. We ate some that were four years old recently and they were bloody lovely ... hic!!
ReplyDeleteThey go great with ice-cream, or if tarted up with a ribbon and a bit of decoration would make good Christmas gifts.
Not a choice for me I'm afraid
DeleteI use frozen pears in mixtures with strongly flavored and rare/expensive fruits. For example, pear raspberry, pear cherry, pear blueberry, etc. Especially good if you have mushy frozen pears next summer, in being the base for home made Popsicles, or fruit pops or fruit sorbet. In winter these mixtures make good cobbler, tarts or fruit toppings for various things.
ReplyDeleteThe deer and squirrels and raccoons ate all our apples and pears this year.
So sorry you lost all your fruit to critters, at least the only problem here is wasps!
DeleteYes, been a great year for apples, I go to a Bramley tree down a local lane, just full of fruit, and by my village library there is an eating apple tree bursting with fruit.
ReplyDeleteVery handy to know where there are things growing round about. There's a big apple tree down the road but it has very small sour apples - bigger than a crab apple but smaller than a cooking apple
DeleteHow nice to hear you have a good crop of apples this year! I had a friend once that would make pear preserves and it was delicious. I wasn't particularly crazy about pears but I loved her pear preserves on a slice of toast in the morning.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about pears on toast!
Deletesomewhere in UK i read about an organization that will bring volunteers to come and pick fruit you don't want (rather than letting it waste or turn into a wasp magnet) and they redistribute it through food banks and places like that.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't enough for anyone to come and pick and I shall make use of almost everything usable and have put a box of cooking apples out by the footpath gate for people to help them selves
DeleteWe've been busy wrapping apples today for storing over winter. No pear tree so we don't have to worry on that score.
ReplyDeleteThe pears in syrup might work well - canned in a waterbath so no room used up in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteI love pears but my wife hates them so we tend never to cook with them.
I’ve a favourite recipe that might help you. I peel and halve the pears and cook them in a syrup of sugar and WINE! Half in red, half in white. Then I roll puff pastry, make a rectangle, or a circle with doubled edges, make a basic goo of almonds, sugar, egg, and lay the pears alternating and bake. Delicious! And so pretty!
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the pears. I so wish my pear tree would produce but it hasn't as of yet.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I had a lot of apples and I have made caramelized onions and apple chutney with it I put it all in the slow cooker lovely
ReplyDeleteApple and pear mincemeat! It is delish!
ReplyDelete