The Lemon Fool

I must tell someone. My neighbour has far more apples than he can use himself and has been offering them around so I have now got quite a lot. I have just made apple crumble and even if I say so myself it is fantastic and dead easy to do. In fact all I did was washed the apples, cored them and sliced them into a pie dish. Added a little water and cinnamon and some cloves. No sugar. Then a basic crumble on top, half an hour in the oven and bingo. Actually I did not realise how easy it is!

Dod

Dod101 wrote:I must tell someone. My neighbour has far more apples than he can use himself and has been offering them around so I have now got quite a lot. I have just made apple crumble and even if I say so myself it is fantastic and dead easy to do. In fact all I did was washed the apples, cored them and sliced them into a pie dish. Added a little water and cinnamon and some cloves. No sugar. Then a basic crumble on top, half an hour in the oven and bingo. Actually I did not realise how easy it is!

Dod

It's the crumble I particularly love. Though I gave myself stomach ache last weekend by eating too much of a shop bought one. (My stomach is overly sensitive.)

Cherry crumble is a particular favourite.

No sugar? You weren’t using bramleys then! Next time try adding a few seedless dates to the apples with a little extra water, (presuming that you are using dried dates, that is). I often make it with a few blackberries mixed in with the apples. I have about 5 kilos in the freezer that we picked late August. Also, try adding some finely grated lemon zest to the crumble mix.
John

We have huge quantities of Bramleys and every year in spite of our best efforts to give them away, have to tip many dumper trucks of them into a trench in our garden. Those we do use, and it's a lot, we core and peel and microwave - NO SUGAR. We then have delicious apple puree which freezes very well.

We have been doing this for many years and have a Victorian design apple peeler and corer that works well.

That is all great to hear. In my last house (well garden actually) I had the most amazing plum tree, that is when the spring frosts left it alone so that it could be a major feast. The problem was that I never found a way of keeping plums for very long. Apples are different. They can last for several weeks if not months.

Anyway, even with the apples I have I am going to have several weeks of apple crumble. Delicious!

Dod (I use brown sugar in the crumble which I find adds sweetness enough)

When I was a mere youth, my father would pick the apples from our trees and wrap each one in old newspaper, put them in seed trays and store them in a frost free location.

The apples lasted for months and, although there was the occasional rotten one, the newspaper seems to have stopped the mould spreading to the neighbouring apples. I guess it also slowed the rate at which they lost moisture.

Result: lots of apple crumbles through the cold winter months.

Watis

Dod101 wrote:The problem was that I never found a way of keeping plums for very long. Apples are different. They can last for several weeks if not months.

Heh. I have a plum tree that generated enough for two small portions of fresh plums this year. Not expecting much change.
Most fruit can be kept indefinitely if stewed and frozen. The limit on how many blackberries I can store is my freezer capacity, and plums would join them if the tree were more prolific. Frozen fruits obviously can't be restored to fresh, but they work great in a range of desserts including crumbles.

Those of you with more than you can either use or give away: consider getting a juicer, if you haven't already! I find I can drink (and enjoy) fresh fruit in much greater quantities than I eat it. The downside is that the juicer is a big chore to wash up - and that's with a dishwasher.

Added a little water and cinnamon and some cloves. No sugar.

I've been nagging my wife for years to use less and less sugar, and every time, the crumbles and pies taste better. You get more flavour coming through, and the combination of the sweet cream or ice-cream goes so well with the slightly more tarty crumble.

It also makes you realise just how awful the shop-bought puddings are. The same after-taste all the time.

Steve

stevensfo wrote:

.... and the combination of the sweet cream or ice-cream goes so well with the slightly more tarty crumble.

Steve

No no no no no!
Greek Yoghurt

--kiloran

The only thing I use sugar for these days is a very little in tea. I do not like the bitter taste otherwise but I could get used to it I guess.

I think there is a lot to be said for the slight tartness of sugarless apple crumble.

Dod

Dod101 wrote:The only thing I use sugar for these days is a very little in tea. I do not like the bitter taste otherwise but I could get used to it I guess.

I think there is a lot to be said for the slight tartness of sugarless apple crumble.

Dod

I gave up sugar in my tea back in my student days. Trying different "exotic" types did it for me: it was either Formosa Oolong or Lapsang Souchong that first tasted right unsweetened, then after that I suddenly (and ever since) found I liked unsweetened regular Assam/Ceylon/Darjeeling/etc.

And there's no such thing as sugarless apple (or any fruit) crumble. Unless you've found some way to remove the vast quantities of natural sugar from the fruit - which would imply a very highly processed product. And I confess to using some sugar and spice in the crumble: the flour/butter should itself be made to taste palatable in the cooks-perks phase.

I agree that most (maybe all?) fruit has enough sugar without adding more. Black Chinese teas I have always drunk without sugar or milk of course but I find that the Indian teas we get in the UK need some sugar for my taste, or maybe it is just that as I drink it mostly first thing in the morning I need the shot of energy.

Dod

Watis wrote:When I was a mere youth, my father would pick the apples from our trees and wrap each one in old newspaper, put them in seed trays and store them in a frost free location.
The apples lasted for months and, although there was the occasional rotten one, the newspaper seems to have stopped the mould spreading to the neighbouring apples. I guess it also slowed the rate at which they lost moisture.
Result: lots of apple crumbles through the cold winter months. Watis

I used to help do this too, as a child. My dad would store apples for winter in an outhouse. We'd wrap the apples individually in newspaper, and they'd go in big cardboard 'packing boxes'. They seemed to last for months...

Wrapping apples stops the odd bad ones spoiling their neighbours and stops smells from elsewhere getting in.

richfool wrote:It's the crumble I particularly love.

I love a crumble made with ground almonds and our coeliac friends can eat it too. Win, win.

this seems to be a very good apples year, i have absolutely loads.

wrapping them up is not an option , any rotters go for the birds.

some are frozen whole , then later cooked in the microwave.

and eaten with cream - evaporated milk actually .

tsr2 wrote:

richfool wrote:It's the crumble I particularly love.

I love a crumble made with ground almonds and our coeliac friends can eat it too. Win, win.

I use around 100gm ground almonds, a little soft brown sugar, a large knob of butter and two large or three small eggs all beaten together to cover 4 - 5 peeled cored and pan-softened Bramleys. Top with zest of lemon, nutmeg and lots of flaked almonds to get the crunch without any crumble. 180C for at least 50 mins. Serve with creme fraiche. Excellent hot and even better when cold the day after.