Apples...oh my!

Apple harvest is happening right now!  We are the fortunate owners of an apple tree...but not any old apple tree, one that has three varieties grafted onto one tree. 

So I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to decide what to do with these apples.  So far I’ve made apple sauce, dehydrated apples, frozen apples, apple leather, and apple juice.  Next on my list is apple chutney and apple butter...oh yeah, I can’t forget apple cobbler/apple pie.  If you have any suggestions for additional apple ideas, please let me know. It’s quite the ordeal to peel and core these suckers, luckily we invested in an apple corer the best darn invention ever!  And thank goodness for my helpers.  We also ended up with a bag of small apples, and when I was washing them, I was quickly reminded of how  we used to bob for apples at Halloween...does anyone do that anymore?

Apples are great for you. Remember “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”.  I recently read that apples help whiten teeth, but I also found out they are great for a whole slew of things such as protecting you from Parkinson’s to preventing cataracts. Who knew?  In Kelowna the 24th Annual Apple Fair is coming up Saturday, October 20th, 2012 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at The Laurel Packinghouse, a great place to take the family and learn more about apples http://www.kelownamuseums.ca/upcoming-events/the-24th-annual-apple-fair/.

The only thing I don’t like is my battle with the fruit flies.  Which lead me to look for a good Fruit Fly remedy, so I thought I would share this one with you all:

Ingredients:

• Apple cider vinegar
• Liquid dish soap
• Water

1. Pour about 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar and 1 Tbsp of liquid dish soap in a jar. Mix it up with a spoon.
2. Fill the jar with tap water until the bubbles reach the top.
3. Place the jar where the fruit flies are causing you problems. They will be attracted to the sweet apple cider vinegar and get trapped in the bubbles.

Happy Apple Season!

This blog post can be seen on www.okanagan4kids.com.