Any Uses For Crab Apple ?

[Nyboy]

I love the spring flower display of a crab apple tree. They are one of the few fruit trees that does well in my clay soil. I have about 15 planted in my yard. Almost all have fruit about the size of a cherry. Does anyone use them in cooking ?

 

[Carol Dee]

Leave them for the birds!

 

[flowerbug]

there are many different kinds. i've heard rumor of someone
using them in apple jelly (for added color and flavor) but i have
no other details than the rumor. some of the larger ones (the
size of a golf ball) i wanted to try out for making apple sauce,
but it didn't happen.

i suppose if you were really desperate you could use them to make
a hard cider, i'm not sure i'd want to taste test that... might be
very tart/bitter.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are a lot of different recipes out there for things you can do with crabapples. It's an easy internet search. My problem is deciding when they are really ripe enough, plus often I get either disease or insect bites that disfigure them. I'm not going to use those.

With that many trees you probably won't have another problem, getting enough at one time to do something with them. I could probably freeze them until I get enough but with as few trees as I have that may take more than one season. Plus I have to get off my butt to go pick them. I often have other priorities when they are ripe.

 

[canesisters]

My sister and I used to pickup the rotten ones and throw them at each other...

 

[flowerbug]

lol canesisters,
and ridgerunner, yes, this is the busiest season for me.
if i have to go pick them it's not too likely to happen.

 

[aftermidnight]

Crab apples make the best jelly ever yep, that good. We had a big old crab apple tree in the yard when I was young, the fragrance that wafted through the air when in bloom was almost intoxicating. Haven't been lucky enough to get a batch to make jelly in a long time.
Annette

 

[thistlebloom]

My sister and I used to pickup the rotten ones and throw them at each other...View attachment 22306

Haha! I have a sis like that....we used to chuck horse apples(dry) at each other....

 

[Ridgerunner]

Haha! I have a sis like that....we used to chuck horse apples(dry) at each other....

Thistle, what's your definition of a horse apple? One so big a horse could choke on it? That was Dad's definition.

We used to chuck apples too but I thought my younger sister went to far when she hit me in the back, right on the spine, with the sharp edge of a tin can. That hurt!

 

[thistlebloom]

Thistle, what's your definition of a horse apple? One so big a horse could choke on it? That was Dad's definition.

We used to chuck apples too but I thought my younger sister went to far when she hit me in the back, right on the spine, with the sharp edge of a tin can. That hurt!

I was using "horse apples" the way you would use "cow pie".