5 (Plus) Cures For U-Pick Apple-A-Day Blues

You carefully located an organic (or at least a low spray/integrated pest management) orchard. You picked your own apples. A lot of them. It was fun. Really. And eating apples you picked yourself is really awesome. For the first few days. And then you notice you're not really making much of a dent in the giant bowl of them. So you offer some to co-workers. And then you eat some more. And then you move them into your fridge. And then a day comes and goes where you don't eat a single apple. But there are still so many of them. Herewith, five things to do with those apples that doesn't involve eating them raw. Oh and some tips for what to do with those pumpkins and cider you got, too, beyond carving and/or drinking straight.

Keep reading to learn 5 (Plus) Cures For U-Pick Apple-A-Day Blues.

1. Bake

Core (compost core). Fill resulting hole with raisins, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Bake until they burst. Eat alone or with ice cream. Best part? Scraping the caramel out of the bottom of the baking pan.

2. Sauce

Cut into chunks. Don't bother taking off skin. Stick on stove top with liquid (water, or cider if you have cider) and whatever else you like -- sugar/maple syrup/cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves/allspice.

3. Soup

Apple soup might be a little odd unless you're a dessert soup freak. But let this serve as a reminder to tuck apples into other fall soups as a sweet note. It works well with pumpkin (see below) or any winter squash. Same goes for parsnips or turnips. Or even split pea, especially when you're using a ham hock or other salty local/organic pork product.

4. Pie

Of course. To drastically reduce the labor/cooking time and energy drain of such an undertaking, go for a rustic tart or a crisp.

5. Freeze

You may not crave all of these apples now but for sure you will next month, and in upcoming months. Freeze them at any step of the way (sauce in glass jars not filled to the top does especially well) to work into all sorts of things come deep winter.

Pumpkins

All of the above can be done for pumpkins, too. Bake and eat (butter and maple syrup aren't just for acorn squash), or bake, cool, scoop out the flesh and freeze for future endeavors. Roast the seeds and serve as cocktail snacks (with olive oil, chipotle powder, and sea salt). Turn into mash. Puree into soup (non locavores can indulge in a ginger/coconut oil/chilies version, locavores can go for traditional onion or leek plus stock). Or bake a pie.

Cider

Heat on stove top plain or with cinnamon, and with or without a splash of rum. Got dregs? Make cider vinegar. Don't forget that cider, like apples, can help sweeten any savory fall dish, including meat (baste roasts, splash over stewing chops, etc.).

Last Thought

If you can't eat or drink another bite, slather the apples and pumpkins on you instead as homemade beauty products. Pumpkin puree can easily be worked into a DIY face mask, and apple cider vinegar is a highly regarded at-home scalp remedy/cure all.