Kitchen Garden Magazine

Grow your own fruit and veg with the UK's No. 1 Kitchen Garden magazine

Organic Gardening

SQUEEZING MORE FROM FRUITS

What to do with Apples?

Many of us are failing to make the most from our gardens. We would never plant a bed of onions or a row of potatoes, get a good crop and then not lift them would we?

A major difference between tree or top fruit culture and vegetable growing is that the size of the fruit harvest comes pretty much of its own choosing and is not easily altered by us. We cannot intentionally grow much more of most perennial fruits one year or less in another as we can with annual crops such as potatoes or onions. We have to accept pretty much what the plants give us. Probably the greatest factors changing fruit yields are rainfall and frost, indeed many crops disappear entirely after a hard late frost.

So in the short run, the current year, all we can do is water and feed to increase yields by a bit, or thin brutally to reduce the numbers wholesale. Given more time we can remove trees, or plant and bring more into cropping. However, most top fruits will still annually produce a surplus.

Even the hard pruned cordon, on the most dwarfing rootstock once established, produces more apples or pears than most of us can comfortably eat. Bushes, fans, and espaliers crop more heavily than cordons and full-sized trees a shed load. Plums especially, which are harder to dwarf, produce still bigger trees and correspondingly larger surpluses. Thus most fruit trees inherently crop hugely yet all too often we seem unprepared for this bounty which is then let go to waste.

A small proportion of autumn’s fruits may be eaten, stored or processed but generally too much valuable fruit is allowed to rot for the birds when it has terrific value – and comes almost work free just for the picking.
All over the country, towns as well, I see good fruit let spoil. If this were collected and processed it could feed us – and still feed the birds. It is the fruit pulp we enjoy and this is invariably ignored by the birds who are after the seeds as these are packed with minerals, fats and proteins while the pulp is but sweet pap.

Once we have taken our bit the pips can be dried, stored and put on the bird table throughout winter when they will do most good. Now only a small proportion of fruits can be stored for any length of time. The variety is the most important factor, earlies rarely keep at all well, lates are often designed for storage.

Then quality is crucial as any bruise or damage, even just the loss of the little stalk or pedicel, will reduce the shelf life significantly. Windfalls are not worth considering, so only those fruits carefully picked should be put away, all the rest need processing in some way before they deteriorate.
Each type of fruit can be processed in many ways but is more suited to one or other of the different treatments, and what you can consume. There is little point pickling all the plums if you don’t like a lot of pickles with your meals!

For more see this month's issue, available to buy online!

Copyright information

© Mortons Media Group • | Subscribe | Renew | Buy current issue | Kitchen Garden offers shop