crab apples

Dixie Bee Acres · #1 08/04/13, 07:44 AM

I bought my property last fall, was lead to believe there were 2 mature Apple trees on the property.
Well, yes, but no. There are two mature trees, but they are crabapple trees. And they are absolutely loaded.
I am planning on cutting them down and replacing them with regular Apple trees, but for this year, what do I do with thousands of golf ball sized crab apples?

I have heard of crab Apple jelly, and I might try making some of that, but is there anything else I can do to avoid wasting all this miniature fruit?

Please share any recipes you have had experience with.

Thank you.

fishhead · #2 08/04/13, 07:46 AM

cider? vinegar?

BigHenTinyBrain · #3 08/04/13, 08:10 AM

Crabapple jelly is good, and you can add them to other fruit jellies for their natural pectin. Plus they bloom like crazy in the spring, attract lots of pollinators, provide food for birds in the winter and work as cross pollination for your future apple trees.
Why cut them down? Do you have adequate room to add regular apples and keep the crabs? I don't see much purpose to cutting them, unless space is at a real premium. If you make jelly once every 5 years with them you will still be seeing a benefit.

TNHermit · #4 08/04/13, 08:27 AM

DOnt cut them down. Crab apples are need to help pollinate other apple trees. I cant tell you off the top of my head but google is your friend.

I have two of the same.and they are loaded this year.
Just plant your new ones in an orchard arrangement.

luvrulz · #5 08/04/13, 09:54 AM

Where are you with all those crabapples? I would love some but don't want to pay shipping - ;-) But if you have pigs, they would love them, not sure about chickens or cows, but there has got to be some uses for them!!! I am in southern Ky btw! Good luck and just google crab apple recipes! Juice them too and make fruit leather....? They would fit handily in my Champion juicer!! LOL

fixer1958 · #6 08/04/13, 09:55 AM

Pigs love them, sweetens the meat.
They act like it's candy.

dlskidmore · #7 08/04/13, 10:29 AM

I've done crab-apple jelly before. It turned out fairly nice, but didn't set quite well enough, I should have boiled it longer I guess. Ended up serving it over ice cream for awhile. (My favorite thing to do with jelly that doesn't gel...)

limey · #8 08/04/13, 10:54 AM

I have the same problem, except I have four crab apple trees!! There must be thousands of tiny fruit on the trees. I have been trying to figure out what to do with all of them other than jelly. Has anyone juiced them or used them for apple sauce?

Fortunately I also have two regular apple trees and two pear trees which are also loaded this year. Last year was a complete bust due to late frost.

Any ideas appreciated.

Limey

fireweed farm · #9 08/04/13, 11:23 AM

Cut them down? Chickens and most other livestock love them, free feed. And yes excellent for pollination of other fruits.
You can probably also graft on to them.

Maura · #10 08/04/13, 11:25 AM

Prune the crab apple trees well. If you don't know how to prune fruit trees, find someone who does. You'll get less fruit, but bigger fruit, and still keep the trees and flowers. Can you possibly graft other apple branches onto the crab trees?

Dixie Bee Acres · #11 08/04/13, 11:46 AM

My only reason for cutting them down was to make room for other trees, but if you folks say they are that good of a pollinator, maybe I will keep one.
Grafting onto them, hmmm, sounds interesting, I will have to look into that.
Currently I have chickens and yeah, they do seem to like the crabapples every time i throw some in their pen. And we are planning on getting pigs next spring, so maybe I should reconsider cutting them down, maybe cut just one.

Oh, and BTW, central Indiana.

luvrulz · #12 08/04/13, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maura

Prune the crab apple trees well. If you don't know how to prune fruit trees, find someone who does. You'll get less fruit, but bigger fruit, and still keep the trees and flowers. Can you possibly graft other apple branches onto the crab trees?

This is an excellent idea! Learned how to do this in a master gardener class - talk to your extension agent! They are a great resource for these types of projects!!

Rustaholic · #13 08/04/13, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dixie Bee Acres

My only reason for cutting them down was to make room for other trees, but if you folks say they are that good of a pollinator, maybe I will keep one.
Grafting onto them, hmmm, sounds interesting, I will have to look into that.
Currently I have chickens and yeah, they do seem to like the crabapples every time i throw some in their pen. And we are planning on getting pigs next spring, so maybe I should reconsider cutting them down, maybe cut just one.

Oh, and BTW, central Indiana.

I do not know if you need two for pollination but I will back up what has been said. I would never cut down either of them.
The last three pigs I raised turned out to be the best tasting pork any of us have ever had.
In their last two weeks I gave them 20 bushels of pears. Apples work the same way. I got so many compliments from that pork I envy you. Those trees are a treasure both for the jelly and for the wonderful pork. Now I am wondering what your chickens will taste like. I want to see a report here.

dlskidmore · #14 08/04/13, 01:47 PM

The crabapple is not likely a dwarfing rootstock, so be prepared for the grafted apple to grow as big as the crabapple.

Ellendra · #15 08/04/13, 03:34 PM

I used to make crabapple butter a lot. Last fall I made crabapple pie filling, some I used for apple crumble and some I still have canned up. The trick with crabapples is to slowly simmer them with brown sugar and mollasses. I use a crock pot because it sometimes takes a few hours, but at some point the bitterness goes away, and then you can use the mixture in other apple recipes.

Slice thinly, though. There's probably some extra "protein" lurking here and there

KIT.S · #16 08/04/13, 06:57 PM

Great addition to apple juice. Gives it a richer, wider flavor. My friends with a commercial orchard use crabapples to pollinate all their other apple trees. I've pickled them whole and we've strung red ones on the Christmas tree as the main decoration.
Kit

Horseyrider · #17 08/04/13, 07:59 PM

Oh gosh, we used to have pickled crabapples at every holiday table when I was a child. Back in the day, a lady's table was brimming with sauces, relishes, pickles, chutneys and spoonsweets. Both my mother and my grandmother kept such a table, and I still have some of the beautiful turn-of-the-(last)-century dishes in which these flavorful dishes were served.

Here's a recipe I'd try for sure, if I only had some crabapples. They're pickled whole; the diner eats around the core.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1923...251200,00.html

Vosey · #18 08/04/13, 08:21 PM

Was just looking up canning potatoes in Jackie Clay's "Growing and Canning Your Own Food" and she had several recipes for crab apples. She canned them whole similar to an apple and another recipe called for cutting off the blossom end and canning with cinnamon and such just like apples. No peeling, seeding or anything.

bja105 · #19 08/04/13, 09:28 PM

Are you sure they are crab apples? Just about any domestic apple you picked now would taste like a crab apple. If the tree was not pruned or the fruit not thinned, it could grow an overabundance of fruit, that ends up too small. If it is dropping some fruit now, it could be that bugs got to the seeds.

Even if it is a crab, the blossoms are worth keeping it around, if it is not in the way.

I have four crabs that were started by a friend from grocery store apple seeds. I keep telling myself that I will graft onto them, but I have not yet. I can't make time to prune or spray the good trees.

empofuniv · #20 08/05/13, 09:32 AM

My daughter recently married and moved in with her new husband who bought his grandparent's home in Tulsa OK some years back. His grandfather was very much the experimenting horticulturist and they have a multi-fruit tree in their back yard. The single tree provides both pears and apples. So interesting to stand there and look at the tree (we were there in June for the wedding) and see apples on one side of the tree and pears on the other. Everything was immature, but recognizable.