Preserving apples- part 2

yum , more applely goodness! now that we have completed the apple jelly and syrup you are left with a whole lot of apple pulp.

If you have a mouli, lucky you! nows the time to use it. If not you're in the same boat as me and need to push the apple pulp through a sieve with a spoon.

It takes time and elbow grease but you end up with beautifully smooth applesauce. It's that simple. You can eat it, freeze it, bake with it, feed it to the baby of the house or you can go a step further and make apple cheese. I divided the mixture into 2, froze one lot and made apple cheese with the other.

Apple cheese

Apple cheese is like a solid apple paste. Called a cheese because of the way it should slice. It also goes perfectly with cheese and pickles.

Apple cheese is also easy to make - weigh your apple sauce ( i had 500g) and add sugar (you need about 3/4 of the apple weight) so i used 350g sugar. Add to a pot and simmer, simmer, simmer. This can take a while and needs frequent stirring. It will go glossy and a darker caramel brown. The apple cheese is ready when you draw a spoon through it and it leaves a clear gap.

Pour into moulds ( i use little tubs or bowls) and store in the fridge. All going well it should set firm like a soft cheese for slicing and hold it's shape when pushed out of the mould. Give it overnight in the fridge before eating to aid the setting.

So there you have it, 4 products from 1 batch of apples - Apple jelly, apple syrup, apple sauce and apple cheese.

I hope you will give this a go, it really is so simple to do and the results are so much better than the store bought stuff ( if you can even get it!).
Feel free to email me if you have questions or need any advice. Preserving is a wonderful tradition i hope more people will get involved in.
See ya all xx