It is crabapple season! It has been a good year for crabapples. After several hot, dry summers, this summer was mild and wet. It made everything from harvesting the crabapples (they pulled off easily and the air was free of the gnats that typically plague us in the second half of August) to removing the stems easier and faster this year. The crabapples were plump, a beautiful rosy red, and were produced in abundance. What a difference a bit of rain makes.
Taken August 12th...
We picked one large bucket and a small grocery bag's worth on August 15th. There are still plenty of them left on the tree (why are the biggest, rosiest ones always wayyy at the top, out of reach?), but we figured this harvest would be enough for us.
Washed and de-stemmed.
First batch in the steam juicer.
Ta-daa! Crabapple juice and the first batch of jelly. Yesterday's modest harvest of crabapples yielded 9 L of juice. Some will be made into jelly, some saved to drink, and some shared with friends. Any crabapples that aren't harvested from the tree will end up in our garden plots and/or given to R's brother's goats as a treat.
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