It is September and it is harvesttime here.
Everything is early this year, so I have picked all my Gravenstein/gråsten apples
down this weekend.
This year I only have a small box of fallen down apples - the rest is picked down carefully and put in open boxes- taking sunbaths in the sun for a few weeks to get really rosy red.
A special treat this time of the year is homemade applejuice.
We dont drink much juice - since it is high sugar, contains no fibres have been pasteurized but fresh applejuice straight from the machine is nice as a special treat
- I always serve it with food containing fat or my bloodsugar spikes.
With some of the fallen down apples I made
american applebutter… it taste interesting dark and spicy.
8 medium large apples ( tart varity) peeled and deseeded
- cook in a large ovenproof sauce pan- add 1 cup water and let it boil down to applesauce.
Add 1/2 cup( 8 tblsp ) brown sugar or rapadua ( I cant get R )
2 tsp cinnamon,
1/2 tsp cloves,
1/2 tsp ginger
and put saucepan into a 300 F /150 C hot oven - check butter every hour and stir - maybe add more water- it should boil /bake down to brown spreadable applebuttter
- I baked mine for 4 hours- but my saucepan was large so that might have made the process quicker -cause the original recipe said 6 hours.
It is nice and not very sweet.
A compleetely different thing is this applemarmalade with ginger and butter !
2 kg/ 4 pounds peeled and deseeded apples cut in pieces (weight is peeled and deseeded)
1 kg / 2 pounds canesugar
50 g 1,8 oz fresh grated ginger
Juice of 3-4 lemons
250 g (2 sticks) butter ( I use organic cultured salted butter)
In a large heavy bottomed pan ( iron) melt sugar untill it starts to get golden brown
(be carefull it does not burn)
Add apples, ginger and lemonjuice
stir and let the juices starts coming out of apples
- turn down the heat and let it bouble away - no lid… stir often….
It is done when it is like marmalade thick applesauce with pieces of apples in
Let it cool down for aprox 5-10 minutes and add butter
Put on very clean glasses and eat before 2 months
-not a problem I can eat it without bread…
How I sterilise glasses ?
Well my mum is allergic to preservatives so I have never used to conventional “poisons” other people use, I just do like my grandmother and her mother again did:
I wash glasses very carefully- pour boiling water into glasses and lids
Dry in a hot oven - if I want to be 100 % sure, I put a tiny bit of white rhum in the glass and shake glass - same rhum can be used to several glasses - but remember to pour it out :-D
Last recipe
Danish apple “cake”
Make a thick applesauce with chuncks of apples in
(you need aprox 500-600 grams of finished applesauce)
It should be sweet but still tart as well. Let it cool down.
In a hot frying pan melt 50 grams of butter with 50 grams of sugar and 75 grams of dry breadcrumbs- stir and let it get golden brown and crisp - cool down.
Whip 2oo-300 ml cream.
Now you are ready:
Take a nice glass bowl.
Put a layer of applesauce ( 1/3) in the bow l- sprinkle with roasted bread crumbs (about 1/2)
add another layer of applesauce- and the rest of the crumbs
Put on the last bit of applesauce and pour over the whipped cream.
Let it get cold and serve- maybe put dollops of red currant jelly on top… doesnt need that - just looks pretty and is traditional.
Enjoy and say a grace to Mother Nature for this lovely harvesttime.
About the Author...
I am a 35 year old woman who lives with my teendaughter in an old wooden house on a hilltop in Denmark. I have got a BA in prehistoric archeology and got a teacherdegree as well. I love books, plants, animals, kids and nourishing food.
Sep 4th, 2007 at 11:03 am
mmmmm I wish I lived next door to you Henriette.
Sep 5th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Hello Henriette
Thank you for your valuable articles - I really enjoy reading them. I am writing to ask if you know of any contacts in Denmark for raw milk and butter products. I have a dear friend who lives in Copenhagen and I could not give her contacts for a Weston Price chapter there. Perhaps you could help me?
Sep 5th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Hello Tanya
No
I don´t think that there is a chapter here in Denmark.
She could try to contact the guy behind
http://www.transfedt.dk/
He has translated some of the articles on WAP to danish.
It is basically illegal to sell raw milk so you need to live close to a farmer that you trust ….to get some.
Sep 11th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Henriette, why not start a chapter there yourself. It’s a great way to connect with people and serve.
Sep 11th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
It would be fun…
but right now is not the time for me… a bit too much stress in my life
Sep 29th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Henriette, my sons went apple picking with dad. We’re not so lucky to have our own apple trees. They came back with a few cartons and we’ve been juicing not stop. I love fresh apple juice. I don’t worry about t aking the fibre out because I get enough from other sources in my diet. And I just plain love fresh juice. Nothing in the world would take me off it. What kind of juicer don you use?
Keeps the posts coming. I enjoy reading them. Christy
Sep 30th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
I used an ordinary Philips - it has just broked after 6 years non stop use… so I´m getting a new one might get a Braun instead.
I know that there are way betterjuicers out there but I can´t afford them- and for us juice is a weekend treat so it doesnt matter that much.
I love juice as well
- and I think that a glass once in while does not hurt… I get lots of fibres as well in my normall diet but I do know that I have to have some fat or protein when I drink juice or my bloodsugar gets sky high.
I made a really nice juice one day using pineapple, apples and fresh ginger - not bad.
Mar 26th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Dear Henriette,
Thank you so much for sharing your great recipes. We own a small orchard of trees and our apples are now in season, (almost to the end). I really loved your recipe for Apple Butter. I was wondering what rapauda was. Also, in your cake recipe, you mentioned the need for “thick apple sauce”. Can you tell me the recipe for this one?
Keep it all posted, you sound like you have many great interests in your life.
Bronte (Australia)
Apr 1st, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Hi Bronte
Rapadura is the Portuguese name for a traditional sweetener, or as a candy, common in Latin American countries such as Brazil and Venezuela (where it is known as papelón) and the Caribbean. It is essentially pure dried sugarcane juice, in the form of a brick, and is largely produced on site at sugarcane plantations in the very warm tropical regions. I cant get it so I use small amounts of brown sugar, honey or maple sirup instead
Thick applesauce is basically
cooking apples cut up and boiled to soft- add sugar or other sweetner - honey and maplesirup is nice so it is slightly sweet - when it is cool is should be thicker than babyfood - but not too thick.
It depends on the apples I think, I use gravenstein, belle the boscop or another tart variety.