Burnt Applesauce

Wednesday, December 9, 2009 by Hodding.

I wrote the following before I wrote yesterday’s short update:

I apologize–again, I think.  No, not for the typo’s.  I sort fo like those (yes, that was intentional but not so witty).  No, I’m apologizing again for not writing.  Truthfully, I can’t write every week–duh!–and don’t want any of you to think I’ll be doing so.  I’m trying to get a book finished (it’s due in January–did I already use this excuse?) and feel guilty even when using the bathroom, let alone writing something that is NOT my contracted book.  The book, however, is about being frugal, specifically my family’s fledgling attempts at being more like the Waltons and less like the Jetsons, and will be filled with recipes, anecdotes, facts, excitement, love, sadness and more.  It’ll be better than a blog.  Promise!  So, this will probably be my last posting for a while.

Let me rephrase that, more firmly: I WILL NOT BLOG AGAIN UNTIL MY BOOK IS DONE–but please come back at the beginning of February, ok?

Meanwhile, here’s a tip:

Don’t ever, ever leave a pot of apple chunks on a lit stove unattended for hours at a time when attempting to make applesauce, even if you have it set on medium.  Or even 1 hour at a time.  Or maybe even 30 minutes.  I’m not sure.  All I do know is that I presently have not 1, not 2 but 3 (THREE) of our largest pots sitting around useless with a few inches of old soaking water in them–hoping that by some miracle the scorched, blackened apple-residue will miraculously disappear.  You’d think I would’ve learned from the first pot, right?  Well, I filled the second with about 50 or so apples, just like I’d done with the first, and then put in twice as much water as the first time, 2-3 cups this time, roughly. It still didn’t do the trick and to this very morning I’m trying to get the pot clean.  The same thing happened the third time but at least all three failures are ample evidence that I’ve been working hard on my manuscript.  You know, I was madly typing away between applesauce stirrings and all that.

Except I wasn’t.  Each time, I was doing one of those projects that always beckons to me at inappropriate times, like when I should be watching my pot of soon-to-be applesauce or typing away at my computer keyboard.  The first time I was cleaning out the muck in the hen house.  Yes, it’s supposed to be the kids’ job, but it was the day before Thanksgiving and friends were coming over, not for dinner but to take care of our “farm” while we were away.  I couldn’t very well let them see how we really keep things, could I?  The second time I was out getting the previously mentioned black gold.   I still can’t get over that stuff, by the way, and there’s plenty more.   And the third time I ruined a pot (one of those fancy French enameled things, even) I have no earthly idea what I was doing–maybe marveling at our winter-mix lettuce.

Yes, you read correctly and that’s no tyop–for once.  We have mesclun, baby romaine and other edible greens, and it’s December in Maine. The salvaged French doors did the trick.  It really was the coolest thing yesterday morning when I had to brush the snow off the glass and then open the hinged door and then pluck enough salad for our entire family.  Yes, I really did scream out loud.  Danced a little jig. Etc.  It’s so great when these thrifty things pay off–even when we’re not being as perfectly miserly as before.

I’m admitting to some unfrugal Christmas shopping.  We made all kinds of low-cost presents for friends and family-that-are-not-our-kids.  HodsMead Batch #3, spruced up with many apples tossed in when boiling the must, is superb, if I say so myself.  Lisa jarred about a dozen crab-apple jellies and just as many crab-apple butters.  Between those two items and others that are not coming to mind, we’ve got more gifts to give away than many of our non-frugal years combined.  I’ve also vowed only to buy Lisa 1 present (it’ll be cheap, promise)–the rest of her gifts are homemade.  When it came to the kids, however, we got them a few things we couldn’t even think about buying the last 18 months or so.  We didn’t go Paris-Hilton wild but we did spend a bit more than planned (we’ll make up for it in January).  And, of course, there’s no telling what Santa might do.

There are so many things that we’ve been doing this past month I wish I had time to write about.  My favorite was collecting apples with our Reverse Johnny Appleseed friends.  They’re sort of reverse because instead of going around planting apple seeds, they knock on neighbors’, strangers’ and friends’ doors asking if they can pick their unharvested apples.  I do this on occasion myself but never to the extent that these two do it.  The day I spent picking with them we filled (literally) the entire back 2/3 of their 1990’s wagon.  A few days later, Lisa and the kids helped wash, cut and press these apple and more into cider.  They gave away dozens of gallons and our family still came home with 25 for ourselves.  Luckily we have a huge frezer.  I was off at an all-day meeting but everyone had a blast.  We’re trying only to drink a gallon every other week.  So far, we’ve failed miserably and are averaging a gallon every 10 days.  Even so, at that rate we’ll be drinking pure, unadulterated cider well into the spring.  For Free–except for the cost of running the freezer!

That’s it for now.  Sorry it wasn’t much of an entry.

I will return.

Posted in Frugal writing, Homemade cider, Frugal presents | 9 Comments »