More Fun with Urban Foraging: Crabapples!

This all started with my mother in law. She has a large crabapple tree in her front yard that is the bane of her existence every fall as it drops its fruit and she tracks them into the house. A while back, she said, "I wish we could at least eat them!"

Hmm.

I forgot about her comment until I was walking my daughter to school last week. We have several vacant homes in my neighborhood, and one of them has a fairly large, and now unpruned, crabapple tree near the sidewalk. The amount of fruit rotting on the sidewalk is appalling. I echoed my mother in law's comment: "I wish these could be used for something."

Which finally spurred me to do some research. I knew, of course, that crabapples were edible, but there are many varieties labeled "ornamental," meaning, one would assume, that their fruits are inedible. The good news is that if your crabapple, or your neighbor's, produces fruit, that fruit is edible. It can be used for the same purpose as just about any fruit, including making jelly, pies, syrups, and juice. Crabapples can be dried and stored for later use. And many varieties have enough natural pectin in them that you don't need to add pectin when making jelly from them.

Of course, some types are more bitter than others, and will require you to add a bit more sugar to the recipe.

I haven't tried cooking with crabapples yet, but I am firmly in the "I am going to do this" frame of mind. So, I've been researching, and I have a few informative articles and tasty-looking recipes to share with you. Next time we visit, I will be ready to collect my mother in law's crabapples. And if my neighbor's house is still empty next year (though I hope it's not) maybe I'll help myself to those as well.

Cooking With Crabapples

I found a fantastic article filled with tips about cooking with crabapples, including how to make juice from them and how to test the pectin level in the fruit. There are also several recipes to try.

Here is a list of recipes that make good use of crabapples. I can't wait to try some of the recipes on the next page.

Sweet Crabapple Recipes:

- Crabapple Jelly

- Crabapple Jam

- Crabapple Butter

- Crabapple Bread

- Baked Crabapple Preserves

- Crabapple Crumble

- Cinnamon French Toast with Crabapple Puree

Savory Crabapple Recipes:

- Crabapple Pickles

- Cranberry Crabapple Chutney

- Ham with Crabapple Glaze

- Wax Bean and Crabapple Salad (not loving all the processed veggies in the original recipe. This could be easily prepared with fresh veggies and crabapples.)

I just love the idea of being able to use this generally-overlooked fruit for something useful. Have you cooked with crabapples? Share your tips in the comments!

Trying to green your diet? Learn how by watching Emeril Green on Planet Green!