Apples And All The Wonderful Things You Can Do With Them

Apples will ripen very quickly if left at room temperature. If you want to slow down how fast your apples ripen wrap each apple with a paper towel and store the apple in the drawer in the refrigerator.

If you want to save your apples until late in the winter store them in a barrel filled with sawdust being sure that the apples in the barrel don't touch each other. If the apples touch they will rot. Apples stored this way will keep for four to six months.

Do You Know That Dried Apples Make Great Snacks

If you want to freeze apples they need to be cored, peeled, washed, and cut up into slices. You can dry sliced apples in a food dehydrator but you need to soak your sliced apples in a lemon juice solution so they will not turn brown. You can make a lemon juice solution by adding a cup of lemon juice to a gallon of water.

Never store an apple near a banana or your bananas will ripen very quickly. But you only need to separate them a few feet to keep the apple or apples from ripening the bananas too quickly.

Do You Want Chunky Or Smooth Applesauce

Do you want to make a chunky or smooth apple sauce. You know it really depends when you put your sugar in as to whether you will have a chunky or smooth apple sauce. If you want a chunky apple sauce add the sugar before you cook the apples. And if you want a smooth apple sauce then add your sugar after you have cooked your apples and pureed them in the food processor.

Let me tell you Granny Smith Apples make the best apple sauce of all. Just peel, core, and dice your apples and then cook your apples in a non stick saucepan in a little butter until the apples are done. If you have four pounds of peeled, cored, and diced apples you should add two sticks of butter and cook the apples in a non stick pan until the apples are soft.

Take a potato masher and mash the apples well until they are the consistency of apple sauce. Then add one cup of white granulated sugar and two tablespoons of ground cinnamon and mix well. You can then store your homemade apple sauce in a plastic covered container for up to two weeks in the refrigerator or store it longer frozen in the freezer. I bet you never had apple sauce this good in your life. It really is that good. You can make it from other apples besides Granny Smith Apples but it will never be as good as it will be made from Granny Smith Apples.

Do Apples Have Any Medicinal Use

Apples have been used for hundreds if not thousands of years as a home remedy for diarrhea. If you will slice your apple very thin and serve it raw it contains an excellent level of pectin which is one of the main ingredients in over the counter anti diarrheals. Pectin also keeps the body from absorbing dietary fats. In the stomach pectin produces a fat absorbing gel that absorbs dietary fats and keeps the body from making use of the dietary fats.

And recent research has shown that maybe an apple a day can keep the doctor away. Apples seem to be great stress relievers. So maybe you should take up the practice of eating an apple a day. The skin of the apple also contains high levels of pectin which can raise levels of HDL cholesterol which is the good cholesterol.

Fried Apple Pies

My Grandmother made the Worlds Best Fried Apple Pies and after tasting many other people's fried apple pies over the years I really think she did indeed make the worlds best fried apple pies.

Filling For The Apple Pies

1. 12 Granny Smith Apples Peeled, Cored, And Diced.

2. One Cup White Granulated Sugar.

3. One And A Half Teaspoons Cinnamon.

4. Four Tablespoons Butter.

Place the above ingredients into a non stick sauce pan and cook over low heat until the apples are soft and tender. Let them cool to room temperature and then use a potato masher to mash your apples well.

To Make The Dough For Your Apple Pies You Will Need.

1. Two Cups All Purpose Plain Flour.

2. One Teaspoon Sea Salt.

3. One Half Cup Shortening.

4. One Half Cup Cold Buttermilk.

Sift your flour and salt together and then add in your shortening, and buttermilk and mix together very well. Add enough flour to form a ball of dough and then put the ball of dough on a floured surface and roll your dough out thin. Roll the dough out to about one eighth of an inch thick and then cut the dough out with a 4 inch biscuit cutter.

Put a tablespoon of your cooked apples in the center of each 4 inch round of dough and fold over and press the edges of the dough together with a fork.

Heat oil in your home deep fryer or in a frying pan and fry your apple pies about three to four minutes on each side. You do not want your oil to be over 350 degrees. Once your pies are done shake a mixture of powdered sugar and cinnamon on them and serve at once. These are oh so delicious. I bet you can't eat just one.

Before anyone asks let me say that yes you can use other types of apples to make your apple pies but Granny Smith Apples will make the best fried apple pies.

Granny Smith Apple Soup

1. Two Cups Granny Smith Apples Peeled, Cored, And Diced.

2. One Cup Celery Chopped Up Fine.

3. One Cup Sweet Onion Chopped Up Fine.

4. Two Tablespoons Olive Oil.

5. Two Quarts Chicken Broth.

6. One Teaspoon Ground Sea Salt.

7. One Teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper.

8. One Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon.

9. One Pint Sour Cream.

10. One Pint Half And Half Cream.

Start off by sauteing your onion until it is soft. Now in a large stock pot start to add in all your ingredients and bring your stock pot almost to a boil but not quite. Cook your soup for about one hour on medium heat and then set aside and let it cool to room temperature. Now you will want to add your Granny Smith Apple Soup to your food processor in small batches and puree each batch until all of your soup has been pureed.

When you are ready to serve your soup take a couple of Granny Smith Apples and peel, core, and dice them. Chop them up very fine and as you serve your soup put a tablespoon of the fine chopped Granny Smith Apples right in the top of each bowl of apples and then sprinkle the top of the apples with cinnamon and serve each bowl of Granny Smith Apple Soup.

You can serve this soup hot or chilled. I like it served chilled but a lot of people like it hot. Give it a try to see what you think. Please post your comments below and let us all know how you like the Granny Smith Apple Soup.