It is the season for apples. If you happen to come across an apple tree, if the apples haven’t fallen already by now then the branches should be laden with them. My parents own an apple tree which supplies them with quite a number each Autumn. They are sweet enough to be eaten as they are, but the majority of the time they are made into a tasty crumble.
But, when you are making crumble, you peel the apples and remove the cores. I made an apple and blackberry crumble on Sunday using apples from my parents tree, plus some foraged blackberries. It was very tasty with custard. However, when I was peeling all the apples (plus some more for the freezer) it occurred to me that there’s quite a lot of waste in this method. If you were to eat the apple, you’d eat all the skin too. By making them into something else, you are losing quite a substantial amount.
So, I had a search to see if anything could be made out of the apples. And, it can! The most straight forward thing I could find were people turing the peels and cores into apple juice. Now, Mr FC can’t drink apple juice as it gives him indigestion, but I love it. So, after reading multiple posts about the method using leftovers, I set about trying my own little experiment.
And, it works!
In fact, the juice made from these was so tasty. Better than you get from a carton. Way better. And it was so simple too! My favourite aspect of any recipe 😉 the only thing I would do next time is reduce the amount of sugar I used. The apples from my parents tree are naturally quite sweet, so didn’t need quite as much sugar as I used. But, I diluted the juice down with cold water and it made twice as much, so no problem really.
You will need:
- About 20 apples’ worth of peelings and core
- Just enough water to cover all peelings and core in the pan
- approx. 100g of white caster sugar
Add everything to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Then, turn down to a simmer for about 90 minutes. You then need to sieve everything (I used one like this) to remove the remains of the apple. Remember to sieve into a jug or bowl!
That’s it! This kept well in our fridge for 5 days. As long as you keep it cool 🙂 I enjoyed the first cup of this warm straight from the pan which was really nice for a cooler evening. For the rest I had half a cup of the apple juice and added cold water to it. Delicious! If you’re interested in more frugal living tips, then I have this video on 30 frugal living tips you have to try! Don’t forget to subscribe over there 🙂
My tasty homemade apple juice!
Why don’t you try it when you next have apples? Let me know how you get on!Â
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I LOVE this! It makes me wish we lived in apple country. 🙂 I’ve heard of people making apple cider vinegar with apple scraps as well.
Hi Nicola, I’m happy to nominate your blog for the Blogger Recognition Award. Congrats! I hope you’ll accept it and here’s the link to the post with your nomination http://frugalinsa.com/blogger-recognition-award/ There are a couple of rules to follow after the recognition, one of them is about nominating other bloggers. Congrats again!
Can you freeze the peel and core until you have enough to make the juice?
I haven’t done that, but I can’t see why not 🙂
I left out the sugar and once i made the juice i turned it in to apple jelly.
The polyphenols and pectin in raw apples have an anticarcinogenic effect on the stomach, according to the American Research Center US Apple Association. Pectin obtained from expressed apple juice increases the production of butyrate which enables the body to activate its mechanisms to produce antioxidant compounds.
Thank you for your recipe, I love this.
Lovely recipe.
Can you use honey instead of sugar
I’m not sure – you could give it a go!
Could you waterbath can this juice?
Yes you can. I put some up every year.
I also want to know if the juice can be water bathed.