Inundated with runner beans and apples...

kate egg · Post by **kate egg** » 02 Oct 2008, 13:56

My runner beans are still producing an armful every 2 days or so.

I have nowhere to store the apples outside as our shed is full of old car parts (middle son's hobby) with a tiny bit of space allocated to chicken stuff. Our apple trees that we inherited when we nought the bottom of next door's garden this year are so bountiful - we must have composted and tipped a mountain of them.

I have picked some unblemished ones today which I'll prep and add to the others in the freezer, and then the runner beans.

At least the chucks like runner beans so they get the big ones that hide in the middle of the leaves and are too stringy for us to eat.

Oh and my outdoor toms that I grew from some free seeds on a magazine are still ripening nicely, probably got 20 that'll be ready over the next few days plus another 40 or 50 green ones that may have to be chutney'd :-D

First year I've gardened so not bad really

julie2 · Post by **julie2** » 02 Oct 2008, 15:23

hi, Kate, Gosh you have done well,Nice when you can eat your own produce. When we move i hope to grow quite a few veggies. I did at my other house, not much realy, but i did enjoy growing it. I wish i had known about this forum then. I could have learned alot more about growing veg!!!

Post by Mo » 03 Oct 2008, 11:14

I give my surplus away.
I go to 2 dance clubs and take them along there. Last year I had a lot of plums and put them out on a tea trolley on the verge with an honest box. The plums sold better than the apples.
My beans are slowing down now. I really must get on with apple picking.

kate egg · Post by **kate egg** » 03 Oct 2008, 11:54

I have tried giving runner beans away, mum had quite a few and loved them but has now gone off to Spain for the winter :-D

Everyone else seems to have grown them this year, even my 7 year old neice - she brought a bean home from school and planted it when it had sprouted and they've had a good harvest from that!

We live opposite a comprehensive school so I'm not sure how long an honesty box would last, plus we are down a very long drive and cannot see the road from our house.

I think the beans are coming to an end (David will breathe a sigh of relief) and I have enough in the freezer to last us till next year's start! Have frozen about 5kg of apples and the trees are still groaning. I'm not sure what sort of cooking apple they are, not Bramleys and they disintegrate when cooked almost instantly! The trees are getting a drastic pruning next month as they haven't been done for years and are completely overgrown, may not get any next year, or at least only a few.

lancashire lass · Post by **lancashire lass** » 03 Oct 2008, 18:36

There are no end of recipes for making chutney that uses apple as one of the ingredients, and don't forget to make some apple sauce. Also, apple contains pectin which is the setting ingredient for jams and jellies with fruit that have low pectin eg strawberries.

Post by Mo » 03 Oct 2008, 19:46

How many apple trees have you got?
It may be worth leaving one of them unpruned, or lightly pruned. I cursed when OH did our Bramley, it's a lovely shape now, easy to climb and pick, but was several years coming back into fruiting.

If the honest box wouldn't work you could leave them at the end of the drive with a note saying 'help yourself and give a donation to your favourite charity' if you didn't want to waste them

I was born in wartime so wasting food seems like a crime. Though the compost heap, or putting it out for the birds and butterflies to enjoy is another option.

Meanqueen · Post by **Meanqueen** » 03 Oct 2008, 19:52

I think wasting food is a crime also, Mo. I am amazed at how many people let their apples go to waste as they fall on the ground and rot. My friends give me apples for which I am gratefull for, and I give them my surplus tomatoes, I have got loads of yellow ones at the moment. I would like to take more apples but my freezer is full.

Ilona

kate egg · Post by **kate egg** » 03 Oct 2008, 20:16

I hate wasting food whether its grown in the garden or bought from the supermarket. I cannot believe what some folk throw away!

There is a draw full of frozne ones now and I've made about 6 jars of apple jam with ginger and cinnamon which is lovely, a little sharp - yummy on toasted hovis. Also plum jam form the little plum tree.

The apples that fall have either been used or composted. There are still loads on the trees that are perfect. I think I may try just leaving them in a box at the end of the drive - or maybe get David to ask at work if anyone wants them.

Thanks for the tip re the pruning Mo, I will make sure that one of the trees doesn't get so brutally chopped back as David had planned!

lancashire lass · Post by **lancashire lass** » 04 Oct 2008, 04:09

And don't forget wine making - windfalls are particularly good for that and you can use loads of apples up :!:

Last year I took about 5 full shopping bags of apples to work - they were snapped up and everyone always appreciate any other surplus stuff I bring in especially with the price of food rocketing all the time.

kate egg · Post by **kate egg** » 04 Oct 2008, 08:31

Apple wine? Any tips appreciated! The boys suggested cider..... think they could make a good scrumpy but I think you need a particular type of appe for that????

lancashire lass · Post by **lancashire lass** » 04 Oct 2008, 11:26

You need somewhere warm to put your fermenting stuff otherwise the yeast will be slow to get going & may stop altogether. I tend to leave all the fermenting in the fermenting bin (some people transfer after the initial mashing straight into a demijohn, and then later rack into another clean demijohn - I don't know how much wine making you have done, so worth getting some more information about what you need to do eg sterilizing etc)

Apple sherry (I prefer sweet sherries & port :oops:

)

6lbs windfalls
2lbs dried apricots (I mixed 50:50 with sultanas)
1lbs chopped raisins
3 & half lbs sugar
1 cake shredded wheat
1 gall water
Campden tables
Tannin, yeast, yeast nurtient

Boil the apricots until tender, strain (use fruit to eat)
Cut up apples including peel & core, put into clean fermenting bin and pour on the liquid. Add Campden tablets. Squeeze & mash every day for 10 days, then strain. Add the wheat, raisins & sugar & stir until dissolved. Add the tannin, nutrient & yeast and leave to ferment (all can be done in a fermenting bin and then racked into a demijohn for final clearing. When clear (I sometimes add a clearing agent as well - depends on how long it takes), dispense into sterilized bottles. Ready to drink, or leave to mature (say 6 months - depends how patient you are LOL)

It is lovely & smooth, and a bit on the sweet side so you might want to cut the sugar down a bit.

Apple wine
8 lbs bruised apples
half lb chopped sultanas
quarter lb crushed barley (don't ask where you get this!)
3 & half lbs brown sugar
1 gall water
2 Campden tablets
Tannin, yeast nutrients & yeast

Cut apples into small pieces, add sultanas, barley & Campden tablets into a fermenting bin, pour over cold water and leave to steep for 10 days, stirring daily.
Strain, stir in sugar until dissolved. Add the tannin, nutrients & yeast. As above, rack into a demijohn for final clearing. Bottle when ready as above.

Cider wine

7 and half lbs small apples
3 and half lbs sugar
1 gall water
2 Campden tablets
Tannin, yeast nurtients & yeast

Chop apples, place in a fermenting bin with crushed Campden tablets & pour water over, steep for 10 days stirring daily. Strain, add sugar, stir to dissolve and then add tannin, nutrients & yeast. Rack, clear & bottle as above.

All above recipes from Peggy Hutchinson's Home Made Wine Secrets (I bought the book nearly 30 years ago but is still a handy book for recipes.) ^b:

kate egg · Post by **kate egg** » 04 Oct 2008, 12:21

Wow thanks I will print those out. It's a long time since I made wine but it'd be good to make something so nice out of the apples. I have a utility room that has a small radiator in it so that should be a good place to keep it :-D

Post by Mo » 04 Oct 2008, 12:35

Do you cut away the bruised bits and the maggots and frass?

I once borrowed an apple press and made juice. It's like a barrel and the juice squeezes out between the staves as you screw the top down. But then I needed to borrow a chopper to cut up a buckets full of apples to fill the barrel. It was a lot of work and the equipment is expensive and the yield small, so I didn't buy one though I wonder sometimes.

lancashire lass · Post by **lancashire lass** » 04 Oct 2008, 16:37

Mo wrote:Do you cut away the bruised bits and the maggots and frass?

Perhaps leave the bruised bits (unless they are really bad, that is more rotted than bruised and especially those covered in mould, then perhaps avoid those as they will grow in the mash and totally change the flavour and content) I'm a bit squeamish, so I wouldn't fancy maggots & other wildlife in the brew and would check those too LOL. I usually do roughly 1 or 2 gallons a year so I can inspect each apple more closely than you would normally.

4 french hens · Post by **4 french hens** » 04 Oct 2008, 18:51

Hi all.
In this forum I recently posted a thread for spicy runner bean chutney.
Hope this helps,
Mike