Applesauce is not the only way to preserve apples

There is some primal instinct that makes us feel as though we are unfulfilled if we don’t spend the autumn months picking apples and then preserving them. I know I feel it, and I know I have personally made gallons and gallons of applesauce even though, like many of my friends who also make applesauce, no one actually likes to eat applesauce (come on, be honest). It makes it slightly more appealing to me if you call it apple mousse instead, as my Austrian friend refers to it.

There are lots of other ways to conserve and preserve apples (and their cousins, the pears and the Asian pears that are known in Asia as nashi). I have found in the past that it’s worth the effort to peel and core my apples and pears and cut them into quarters and then freeze the quarters. This usually makes particular sense because I usually pick fresh fruit from my own trees or those of generous friends. 

This year, you probably have noticed that most local pear and apple and nashi trees produced little to no fruit. There was a warm spell in late winter that allowed the trees to begin budding; that was followed by a very cold period that destroyed the buds, which means there wasn’t much fruit.

Numerous people have told me in the past two weeks that they feel incomplete because they didn’t get to pick any apples this autumn; and those same people have told me that they plan to go buy a bushel and a peck (or a few bushels or a couple pecks) and freeze them (or make
applesauce). 

If that’s your plan, I recommend the Montgomery Place Orchard in Red Hook at the intersection of Routes 9G and 199; they have an excellent and large assortment of heirloom apples (apparently some pockets of the Hudson River valley didn’t experience the warm-freeze and their fruit was fine).

Once you’ve frozen your sliced apples, etc., it’s easy to use them as a dressing with pork tenderloin oras the basis of a fruit crisp or pie. You can also use this excellent cake recipe that Lakeville Journal Publisher and Editor in Chief Janet Manko created, which is  a sort of culinary portmanteau of a recipe that she modified from the 1980 “Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook” by Zoe Coulson and then combined with her husband’s cousin’s apple cake recipe.

Oh, and since this is a health column: According to the University of California at Davis, the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables stays pretty stable if you put them in the freezer with a steady temperature.

Merryfield honey apple cake

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Use cooking spray on two 8-inch square or round cake pans (or if you love calories, use butter). Soak the half cup of dried fruit in water, fruit juice or rum (see below).

In a medium bowl, combine
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon. 

In large bowl, combine three eggs, 1 cup of canola or another light and neutral oil, 1 cup of sugar, a half cup of honey, 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat well. Add in and stir by hand, 3 cups chopped peeled apples (or pears or nashi), 1 cup of chopped walnuts and/or pecans, the half cup of chopped golden raisins, dried cherries and/or other dried fruit that have been soaking in liquid.

The batter will be quite thick. Spread it in the two pans, evenly. Bake for one hour, until the top has browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.

Cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then remove them and cool them on wire racks.

Optional: Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar, applied just before serving.