Our first apple harvest

Our Discovery on the left, a shop bought Pink Lady on the right.

And the grand total of apples this year is... six! That's from all four potted trees; two per tree, not counting the naughty Cox's Orange Pippin which lived up to its reputation and refused to play. We had plenty of blossoms in the spring (and very pretty they were too), but as I was advised to limit the number of apples on the first year, I chopped all but two tiny apples off all the trees. Maybe it's for this reason (there was certainly enough room for growth) that all our apples have grown absolutely huge.

Our Fiesta on the left, a shop bought Discovery on the right.

We've left both of the James Grieves on the tree, so we've got one more tasting to come!

Apple cake

I normally use this recipe for a rhubarb cake, but since I've got all these apples I thought I might give this version ago.

Apple cake

1 egg
3 dl sugar
3,5 dl cream and milk (half and half)
6 dl plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
100g soft butter
apples, peeled, cored and sliced
a few pinches of sugar and ground cinnamon to sprinkle on top
(flaked or ground almonds)

Whisk the egg and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cream and milk mixture, baking powder and flour. Mix the soft butter in with the rest of the ingredients and pour the mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Place the apple slices on top (they will sink slightly) and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. You could try sprinkling flaked almonds on top or add some ground almonds into the mixture before pouring it onto the baking tray. Bake 200°C/30 mins. Lovely served warm with vanilla ice cream or cold hidden into a lunch box to brighten up someone's day.

Apple's the word!

We went to B&Q on the weekend and while Hubby was looking at what I call boring stuff, I sneaked to the garden bit and the trolley was filled with green leafy things in no time. I found an apple tree (Discovery) to replace our cherry tree (that got offended by very wet feet and was finished off by a well aimed shovelful of icy snow), a fig tree (Brown Turkey) and two blueberry varieties I didn't have yet (mail ordered Nui, Chandler and Herbert got new friends called Goldtraube and Northland). And I only went for some playsand for the chooks' dustbath!

It will take a few years before we get any apples (provided that the tree survives that long) and I really wanted to make some more of that delicious jam, so I placed an add on Freecycle asking for some apples and boy did we get some! We came home from this lovely lady's house with a big flexitub full of gorgeous tangy apples. You can see the bounty in the picture above. I used just over two kilos of apples to make some jam (result: the best jam so far!) and the tub still looks full. I think I'll have to find some more apple recipes sharpish!

Another thing on my to do list is to plant the apple tree. I was going to train it somehow, but I can't decide what would be the best way. The label suggests to plant it at an angle of 45°, so maybe I should follow that advice. I've never seen a tree planted this way though and I keep thinking that to everyone but a fruit tree connoisseur it might look like someone's planted the tree after a very long night in the pub! Anything to save some space, I suppose.

Anyone grown apple trees in big pots?

Jammin'

My friend gave me this recipe and I had to try it straight away. It's absolutely gorgeous and it makes the whole house smell lovely when it's bubbling away on the cooker.

Apple jam

1 kg apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 vanilla pod split into halves
4 tbsp calvados
2 tbsp water
4 dl jam sugar (or a bit less, I found the jam a bit too sweet)

Put all the ingredients into a pan and boil 10 mins (or until the apples go soft). Pour the jam into sterilised jars and let them cool down in room temperature. Store in the fridge (or freezer if you haven't got the space in the fridge).

Easy peasy!