apples apples everywhere

[Deebo]

Riding the quads around the hood, saw many apple trees just overflowing..
Im talking, wasting apples. So I got on the facebook, im part of a free deeds site, and asked if anybody has some apples me and the kids can go pick.
Got two responses for apples and one for pears.
Im going to go tonight and get some.
Gonna try to dehydrate some, box fan dry some, and have the wife make a pie..
Do I need to dip the apple slices in anything?
And are green apples and red apples the same for drying?
Baglady, help???

[hawgrider]

Riding the quads around the hood, saw many apple trees just overflowing..
Im talking, wasting apples. So I got on the facebook, im part of a free deeds site, and asked if anybody has some apples me and the kids can go pick.
Got two responses for apples and one for pears.
Im going to go tonight and get some.
Gonna try to dehydrate some, box fan dry some, and have the wife make a pie..
Do I need to dip the apple slices in anything?
And are green apples and red apples the same for drying?
Baglady, help???

Put the apple slices in concentrated lemon juice is what I do. Soak them for a minutes or so. Keeps them from turning brown.

[MrsInor]

Green apples (Granny Smith) can be dried just like red apples. As Hawg says - lemon juice will keep them from going brown. Applesauce and apple butter can be water bath canned. Peels and cores can be used to make apple jelly or juice.

[Broncosfan]

You can use crushed vitamin c tablets in water also

[Dwight55]

OR, . . . you can just lay em out on a piece of masonite in the sun, . . . cover em with cheese cloth, . . . let ol man sun do his magic.

I've eaten a boat load of em made that way, . . . and they taste the same whether they are brown or not.

I've got several plastic jars full of em, . . . gonna do some fried / dried apple pies later this fall when the weather gets cold enough that it will be good to have something like that.

Used to help mom, . . . she'd fill up a pillow case with them about half way every fall, . . . us kids would polish them off long before winter was done.

Her mostest, bestest, and goodest, . . . was the 7 layer stack cake, . . . with dried apples in between the layers, . . . yumm, . . . that's good.

May God bless,
Dwight

[MrsInor]

Have a recipe for that Dwight?

[Baglady]

There ya go Deebo. You can lay the slices on tin and cover with screen or cheesecloth too. I don't use the lemon juice either.
Good idea using social media to find the apples!

[Deebo]

I will try some soaked in lemon juice, and some plain. We only took about forty Apple's. No need to waste a bunch for just a trial.
I will go find a mandolin cutter soon.

[Dwight55]

Have a recipe for that Dwight?

If you are talking about the cake, . . . yes I do.

I could not find the one I was looking for, . . . but this is pretty close, . . . and has some extra information:

________________________________________

Dried Apple Filling

1 pound (4 to 5 packed cups) dried unsulphured apples
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg
4 to 5 cups water, divided

Cake Layers (this calls for 6, . . . we always make 7, . . . just the way we did it..........)

5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 cup sorghum molasses
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk


1. For the filing: Place the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and mace in a large saucepan. Add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low, and let simmer, stirring frequently, until the apples are tender and the filling is very thick, about 1 hour. If the mixture gets dry, add more water. If it is soupy, continue to simmer until the excess cooks away. Use a potato masher to break up the apples into chunky sauce. Set aside. All the items having a * before them are personally optional for your personal taste, . . . you might want to make up a little batch of the filling, . . . use different spices, . . . find the one you like. I like mine with just a dab of cinnamon and a little nutmeg...

2.For the cake layers: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. You will be baking the layers in batches, for a total of six layers. (Alternatively, you can bake the layers one at a time in a greased and floured, well-seasoned cast-iron skillet, which is the traditional technique. Yet another option is to pat the dough into six 9-inch rounds and bake them on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Mom always used her round cake pans, . . . and the layers were really thin

3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

4. In another large bowl, beat the shortening, sugar, and molasses with an electric mixer set to medium speed until the mixture is smooth and creamy. The molasses is optional, . . . some don't like it, . . . if I have sorghum, . . . I'll use it, . . .

5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with half of the buttermilk. The mixture should be the consistency of cookie dough, so knead the dough together with your hands if that works better than the mixer. Add a bit more flour if needed.

7. Pour the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into six equal pieces. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap so it won’t dry out. Use lightly floured hands to pat a piece of dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared cake pans. The dough should be about 1/2 inch thick. Lightly prick the dough all over with a fork, making a pretty pattern if you wish. Bake until the layers are firm when lightly pressed, about 15 minutes. The layers do not rise as they bake.

8. Turn out the first layer onto a large cake plate. Immediately spread it with one-fifth of the apple filling (about 1 heaping cup). Continue baking, stacking, and topping the warm layers. Leave the top layer bare.

9. Cover the cake with several layers of plastic wrap and then tea towels, or store it in an airtight cake carrier. Let the cake rest at room temperature for at least two days before cutting. Mom always put it in the refrigerator, . . . funny thing, back then there was no plastic wrap, . . . whatever else was in the fridge, . . . added to the cake's flavor, . . .

___________________________________

Cake History:

About that same time of year, mountain families dried apples so they would have fruit through the long, cold winter. Pieces of apples were threaded onto strings and hung in the rafters, or strewn onto quilts spread out under the chilly, bright, sunshiny autumn sky. Properly dried apples are sweet, pliant, and flavorful. To make stack-cake filling, dried apples were gently cooked until they collapsed into a thick, fragrant stew. Some cooks added a fat pinch of spices, perhaps mace or cinnamon or ginger. Others let the apples speak for themselves.

No one knows who made the first stack cake, but it was likely a cook who had a trusty cast-iron skillet, a good supply of sorghum and dried apples, and a dab of flour. Stack-cake layers are thin and almost crisp. That first cook almost certainly baked her cake layers one at a time, patting the dough into her skillet, baking them over a cooking fire or on the hearth, turning them out onto a plate, stacking and filling as she went. Nowadays cooks more often bake several layers at once, but, no matter, the layers are stacked and filled as soon as they are baked and ready.

Stack cakes require multiple layers, at least five, and the sky is the limit. Many people believe that there must be an odd number of layers. At any height, a stack cake must sit and cure for at least two days. Given a little time, the moisture from the apples softens the layers a bit, melding the flavors and making the cake moist and delectable.
Cutting into a stack cake as soon as it is assembled is a disservice to the cake and the cook. That is why eyebrows are often raised when stories are told about poor mountain brides who could not afford a wedding cake and were gifted with stack-cake layers donated by friends and family members. The layers (surely a hodgepodge of different thicknesses and diameters) were allegedly brought to the wedding, stacked on site, and cut on the spot. The more layers, the more popular the bride. That’s a charming story, but it doesn’t add up. A freshly stacked cake is no gift at all.

Still, a stack cake was (and is) a labor of love and an exercise in patience, usually made only for celebrations. A stack cake is a special occasion in and of itself.

Tell some redneck hillbilly's from Appalachia you are making a stack cake, . . . y'all might wind up with more company than you thought was possible.

May God bless,
Dwight

[Dwight55]

I will try some soaked in lemon juice, and some plain. We only took about forty Apple's. No need to waste a bunch for just a trial.
I will go find a mandolin cutter soon.

I personally have two of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Back-To-Basi...cAAOSwgZ1XvXxE

This one is the cheap one I bought 25 years ago at TSC for $9.95 or so.

I also have a pampered Chef.

I don't like the pamered Chef as well as the cheapie, . . . as it slices the apples really thin. I like mine thicker.

If you get one, . . . don't mess with the one that sticks to the counter with a suction cup, . . . get the clamp one, . . .

When you use it, . . . the prongs go into the top of the apple, . . . and the butt end of it gets peeled first.

If you ever use one of these, . . . you'll throw the other peelers away that you have.

May God bless,
Dwight