Apples, Apples, Drowning in Wasted Apples

I was a little confused why he kept saying that this is as close to organic apples as you can get.
I was thinking, he was bagging them, and then spraying the tree, but thinking the spray can't get on the apples, so..... pseudo-organic?

But looking through this link, http://gordosoft.com/orchard/bagging.htm, it seems like the goal of bagging to to not have your non-sprayed, organic apples look like walnuts due to bug-damage.

As with everything I have noticed over my homesteading years, seems like NOTHING scales well :)

I read about drying apple slices or shredded apples until crisp. Then grind into a powder for apple sugar. I haven’t tried it yet but I will.

Next time I get apples from a friend with a tree I plan to try to make this: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/10/08/homemade-boiled-cider

Seems like it'd be a good alternative to processed sugar for cooking and baking.

Fortunately, all apples keep for a while. Not the urgency of other produce. They can wait until the wood stove is going and apples can be dried on screens hung above. My favorite way to can apples is as slices.a hand crank peeler, corer will save time and blisters. Sprinkle sugar over slices (cut down sides of spiral left by the peeler) and let sit over night. They will weep juice. Bring to boil and put in jars. Process in boiling water bath or pressure cooker. Apples will hold their shape and not turn to sauce. Canned in own juice without added water (unless you need just a little in top of jars) they're great for pie, bar cookies, on oatmeal or ice cream or? I use the same technique for rhubarb. It will stay chunky.

Walter Jeffries wrote:My mind boggles...

MINE TOO!!!  FIVE YEARS LATER, I've been wondering this week about WHERE I can actually find a few apples to use for my usual yearly Chunky Applesauce canning!

What if I want to ferment apple/fruit waste in order to distill the results later for fuel?
Any suggestions?

Dalem Wells wrote:What if I want to ferment apple/fruit waste in order to distill the results later for fuel?
Any suggestions?

You would need a permit and a still, which could be obtained here:  
https://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/25856388-fuel-alcohol-permit-the-ultimate-guide
I fear that apples are really not the fruit to use as hard cider here is only 8.5% at most. It can be improved to 12%, that I know because French hard cider is more potent that the hard cider made here.
You could make a much stronger alcohol with grain or with potatoes. Everclear is such an alcohol, and perhaps before you make changes to your car to make it accept alcohol as a fuel, you might want to make your car take Everclear, then try various potential fruit, grain, potatoes and raise the proof.
My husband, who messed with racing cars in his youth tells me that you still would have to mix it with gasoline and perhaps benzene to help the 2 to mix. You would then get some ethanol, but at what price? and would that ethanol damage your engine?

Dalem Wells wrote:What if I want to ferment apple/fruit waste in order to distill the results later for fuel?
Any suggestions?

Dalem, you might find this thread interesting:

He threw his windfalls (apples pears and plums) in food grade plastic barrels,  left them tightly closed over the winter and then brought  the liquid from it up the mountains to a distiller

https://permies.com/t/167243/kitchen/windfall-apple-cider-wine-schnapps

Apple cheese. It is made in Lithuania, and probably other countries as well - I have had quince cheese/paste in France, same idea.
My mother has 3 thrift store slow cookers for the purpose. Either peel and core, or plan to put through a food mill. Cook on high until they get saucy, food mill to get rid if seeds and peels if needed, then back onto the slow cooker on low keep on low with the lid cracked for several days until it is dry enough to pull away from the sides. The volume goes was down, and we usually add more apple slices for the first day or two to fit more in. Once it pulls away from the sides, shape it on wooden boards, cover with a clean cloth, and put in a warm place with good airflow. You can probably do it with an oven or wood stove too, even solar oven, as long as you can keep the heat low enough to dry it without scorching. For us, the slow cookers put a bit of heat in the house in the cool dry season before it is cold enough to fire up the stove.
You can add some spices at the sauce stage if you like, and it can be done with other fruit. Quince is delightful, though I think it needs sweetener. Pear and asian pear are ok, but a bit grainy.

You made me curious with the Lithuanian apple cheese, so I looked it up. Of course it is not cheese since it contains no dairy .
It sounds most similar to fruit leather. It should not be as sweet, however, since tart apples are recommended, and the proportion of sugar is less. It is made in one loaf covered in cheesecloth and sliced.
That would be a great way to use and abundance of cider apples. I'll keep that recipe handy for next year [In the hope that our apple blossoms don't get killed by a frosty again!] In the meantime, here is the recipe for the lucky peeps who have a lot this year:
https://exploringarbours.wordpress.com/arboreal-futures/kaunas/apple-cheese-recipe/

We have a lot of both apple and pear fruit drop each year. Pears fall in our barnyard food forest so chickens get a lot of that and apples fall in our orchard.  I collect the excess drop and save in buckets until I'm ready to make a compost pile.  The fruit composts readily once its chopped up and I have a great tool for doing that I'd like to share.  Once I have some fresh cuttings, such as after trimming hedges in this example, I pile them up, cover with the apples and pears and cover that with a bunch of chicken manure, add moisture and straw as needed and then chop that all up with a flail (tractor) mower.  That mower will chop & mix just about anything (even stacks of wet cardboard) into nice little, compost-able pieces. I made a small compost pile today and took some pictures.  A flail mower is a really nice tool for preparing compostable material.  It also cuts grass, but I rarely use it for that.

Storing apples to keep as pig feed is a great idea for those of us who have animals. If not, there are a multitude of other ways to preserve foods. Austin Durant goes into 13 different methods at the Permaculture Technology Jamboree at Wheaton labs and it has been caught on camera for posterity. See a turbo tour of his methods: