Gardening

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/34286006

Did my first apple harvest for a tree that was in the backyard of my house. Around a year after we moved in after removing some trees that were growing into our fence and garage and working on building soil health our neighbors pointed out that we had an apple tree. They said that for the entire 10 years they lived here they didn't see an apple but were seeing a few two years ago. After missing my window last year I finally got around to harvest.

For around 1 hr or 2 of work I collected around 27 lbs of apples. I sorted around one third to be aesthitically pleasing enough to be eaten raw with the rest too ugly. I gave half away to the same neighbor and had to find something to do with the rest.

I made half into apple butter which I cooked in a crockpot for hours after dousing them in sugars. I ended up making around 7x 8 oz jars worth.

The rest I soaked and gently simmered in a pot with spices. The next day I mashed all the apples and got the remainig juice from the mashed sauce. I added raw honey to the juice and then dilted with alcohol (half in cognac and half in grain alcohol) to get it around 20% ABV. These cordials will last me all year.

What else should I do with apples next year or when I got back to harvest again?