All the Crabapples!

When I purchased my property, it came with an ancient crabapple tree. So old, the neighbor next door told me he used to climb in it when he was a boy. The previous owner may have planted it after purchasing the property in the 50s, or maybe it came before then. Other neighbors tell me there were crabapples all over the neighborhood but most took them down because they got old, or the crabapples drew bees and deer. I, on the other hand, fought to keep my crabapple tree alive, because she holds the history of this place.

For years, it was wildly unkempt, half dead, and strangled with bittersweet. I focused on the rest of the property so it took me a few years to deal with it – first by having an arborist remove some dangerously hanging limbs. Then, two years ago, I had the same arborist come to assess if it was a something I could restore or if it needed to come out. He assured me it had “plenty of life” left, so I hired him to cut out all the bad bits, and remove the strangling vines and junk trees around it. We then removed EIGHTY FEET of privet hedges that hadn’t been pruned in years, and added a fence with the tree inside my yard.

The Crabapple Lives

This year, to my delight, the tree bloomed wildly – a profusion of white flowers and yes, SO many bees and other pollinators. The birds love this tree, so I celebrated its rejuvenation with a purple bird house that was immediately and continuously occupied. Then, in June, I looked up and saw it was heavily laden with green fruit. By July, they were red, and then reddish purple, and starting to drop. And with that, the deer, woodchucks, squirrels and chipmunk parade picked up speed. You can smell the ripe apples the moment you walk into my garden – I might have hung a neon sign out front that blinked “FREE FRUIT. PICK YOUR OWN”.

In the 11 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never actually tasted a crabapple – they were always small, hard and usually bug infested or chipmunk chewed, so the appeal wasn’t there. But these? They looked like real apples, albeit small. So I bit into one and wow – tart but sweet! I have always preferred my apples crisp and tart so I was immediately in love and daydreaming about the possibilities.

So, what to do with crabapples?

My first thought was “apple crisp” but when I realized what a pain they were to core and how quickly they turned brown, I changed plans. Every day, for weeks, I went out with a colander and picked up every apple that fell and didn’t have blemishes, teeth marks or bug holes. I washed them and put them in the freezer in gallon bags. By the end of July, I had four gallons – 48 cups! – of crabapples in the freezer.

I decided I’d attempt jelly second – first, I would make applesauce. That was relatively easy – I took 2 gallons, cooked them down in water until they were soft. Then I borrowed a food mill from another urban farming neighbor, and pressed out the mash from the seeds and skins. I really wished I had a pig to delight with this leftover mash, at that point. I added a bag of cinnamon, cloves and star anise to a cheesecloth bag and slow cooked the sauce down a bit, with added sugar. So good – I think I like crabapple sauce more than regular apple sauce. When I was done, I had canned it all and tucked it away for future enjoyment.

I was less successful with the jelly I attempted a week later. Jelly making is HARD. I did not know this! All the respect to successful jelly makers. I followed a proven recipe but made some errors in judgement (older pectin, not having a candy thermometer for reaching the right temps) and ended up with a lot of jars of canned crabapple … syrup. But, you know, I’m going to run with it. I am already envisioning it as a marinade, in barbecue sauce, over ice cream, in pancakes, over yogurt. It won’t go to waste.

Now the freezer is empty and ready to hold the gallons of Roma tomatoes that are coming in fast. And I have a new love for my resurrected ancient crabapple tree.