Apples, Apples and more Apples!

photo credit:  Sarah MacIntyre - apple trees blooming, mid summer, and harvest time.

I am surrounded by apples.  Bags and bags of beautiful, crisp apples.  Apple pies are frozen in the freezer, apple pies have been eaten by my family, another apple pie will be made today. Jars and jars of apple pie filling have been canned, and more jars are waiting to be filled.  I will also be freezing pie filling in freezer bags as well.  My hands are a little stiff from all the peeling, but it's so satisfying to see all the hard work stacked up in the freezer and cold storage room.

Here's a recipe for canned apple pie filling:

Apple Pie Filling:

5 cups peeled and sliced apples
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons minute tapioca
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Add the sugar and apples together in a large pot.  Let sit until juices are released.  Place on burner over medium high heat, bring to a boil.  Boil hard for 1 minute.  Add tapioca, lemon juice and cinnamon and boil for one more minute.  Spoon filling in hot sterilized quart jars, process in hot water bath for 20 minutes.  Makes 1 quart.

(Recipe comes from Company's Coming Preserves, by Jean Pare.)

For freezer filling, I put 6 cups sliced, peeled apples in a large bowl, and toss with 3/4 cup white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of white flour.  Plus a dash of salt.  If you are concerned about the apples browning, you can always dip them in a solution of vinegar and water, or lemon and water before you put them in the bowl.  Then I toss the mixture in a freezer bag and seal and label it.  My friend Irene Hirtle (who is very clever), puts the apple filling in a pie pan lined with lots of cling wrap, wraps it up tight and freezes it in the pie plate.  Once frozen, she takes the wrapped filling out of the plate and stacks a neat pile in her freezer.  When it's time to bake a pie she unwraps the pie filling and plops it right in the pie crust - perfectly shaped!  Neat trick, huh?