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goats and sheep

Apple mash and goat treats

carla murphy

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posted 3 years ago

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Just processed a 5 gallon bucket of apples....long process as they are very wormy so alot of cutting needed to happen - if anyone has any tips to make that go quicker, I'm all ears... Got about a gallon of cider - very delicious cider - from it so it was worth the effort. Now I'm left with about 3/4 gallon of apple mash. Sure I could feed it to my compost bin (I have the best fed suburban backyard compost bin in town I do believe) but I got to thinking that this is all good apple stuff, no seeds 'cuz we cored all the wormy bits out. So this should be great stuff for our two Nigerian Dwarf doelings who adore dried apples as their training treats. Problem is we've run out of freezer space for this sort of thing. So I can dry it. But I think it will be mostly a powder by the time it is dried since we used a borrowed apple crusher to mash the apples before they went into the press. Does anyone have an idea on how I can take this mash (freshly mashed or dried) to make a shelf stable product?

Anne Miller

steward

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posted 3 years ago

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Do you feel this mash would make good fruit leathers?

Maybe just spread it out in the right thickness to make the leathers?

Something like this:

https://permies.com/t/40/50577/Apples-Apples-Drowning-Wasted-Apples#1320084

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carla murphy

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Nope, not leathers...this mash came through the press. It is 'almost' dry already. I would have to add apple juice (what?! just removed all the juice) back to it to get it moist enough to spread for leathers. Wondering if I can use it as a flour of sorts once it is completely dry. Then use that to make a goat cookie? I've never made a goat cookie, dunno what would go in it...I rarely even make human cookies...

IMG_6602.JPG

Matt McSpadden

gardener

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Location: Central Maine (Zone 5a)

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posted 3 years ago

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Hi Carla,
I am saying this somewhat tongue in cheek... how about feeding it to your goats? I don't know how much you ended up with, but the amount in the picture doesn't look like too much. For many years people would simply keep the animal alive "on the hoof" so to speak, because it was shelf stable without refrigeration. Then they would butcher as needed. If you store the apple mash inside a goat, it will make shelf stable goat meat or goat milk :)

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carla murphy

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posted 3 years ago

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Oh, no...that's just the lightest tray of four, doesn't include the huge chunk I put in the compost before I thought better of it...and the chunks I gave to the chickens and goats (who licked up every last piece, but they are just babies and still developing their rumen). And I have two more five gallon buckets of apples to press!

Matt McSpadden

gardener

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posted 3 years ago

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Hi Carla,
If they are still babies, and its too much for them and chickens, then I think you are going to have to make a decision about how bad you want to keep it, and how much work to put into it. I personally would compost anything I couldn't feed to animals. Freezing would be the next thing. Both of those are easy and fast.

In your case, though, if those two options are out, then I would experiment with drying it probably.

Carla Burke

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Location: Missouri Ozarks

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posted 3 years ago

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I'd probably dehydrate it to use for critter treats.

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Anne Miller

steward

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I can see no reason why spreading the mash out and dehydrating that mash would not work.

When the goats want a treat just break some chunks off.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Sena Kassim

pollinator

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Perhaps drying into crackers?

carla murphy

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So I ended up just dehydrating the mash...Got 2.5 gallons of dried apple bits. Goats seem to like them like that, so why do anything more?! They don't hold up as well as sliced dried apples in my pocket all day (kinda crumbly). But whaddaya want for nothin'? Rubber biscuit?!

Thanks for the suggestions.

If a tomato is a fruit, does that mean ketchup is a smoothie? What if we mix in a tiny ad?

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