# Crabapples - are they ready to harvest?



## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Last year I missed my harvest-time, got a frost that took them out. Today, the color seems good, they are still quite firm and I am hoping to be able to start picking them in order to make a jelly (my first from the tree).

Attached is today's weather-page from Environment-Canada (I set it to imperial-units for my southern-friends) ... Do you think that I will have time to pick the fruit this weekend after looking at the forcast and looking at the pictures from the tree, do you think that they are ready? 

Oh .. ya.. One picture is looking out my backyard towards the incomming storm. Don't think that I want to be standing on an aluminum-ladder hanging onto the tree when that arrives shortly.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Most of our apples and crabapples up here were ready awhile back but those look like they might benefit from a little time. Are they loose at the stem or any falling off yet? 
Still haven't had a killing frost up here which is good, when it is this bloody hot and a frost comes from nowhere it is very hard on perennials.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

cowboyhermit said:


> Most of our apples and crabapples up here were ready awhile back but those look like they might benefit from a little time. Are they loose at the stem or any falling off yet?
> Still haven't had a killing frost up here which is good, when it is this bloody hot and a frost comes from nowhere it is very hard on perennials.


That is what happened last year ... I kept checking and waiting and checking and waiting and I don't know if I waited just a little too long, but the weather went from real-nice (motorbike weather) to full-on winter in about 24hrs. Ya, I rode my bike home, parked it in the garage and the next day it started to frost, snow, rain, frost, snow ... and my chance of harvest was lost.

So far, there are no apples on the ground (naturally), they are all well attached to the tree.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Sounds like the variety you have takes a bit longer to mature and so you end up with a very narrow window to harvest. If you are processing them anyways it shouldn't hurt to pick a bit early, they just may not have the texture or colour that they would when actually ripe.

It was 30C here yesterday, but more than likely we will see a big change soon.


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## dixiemama (Nov 28, 2012)

Mine start falling in June and usually keep up until middle of September. We've had too much cold and they finished sooner this year but we had a good crop.


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## HoppeEL4 (Dec 29, 2010)

This is funny, we just picked a bunch from my mom's neighbors tree for making pectin with. In our case being ripe was unnecessary since we wanted them for the pectin. 

I don't know about up there Naekid, here in NW Oregon (between Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge) might be different, it is even from here to where our daughter and son-in-law live just 45 miles south of us. I have seen blueberries done and over with down here in late July and go up into the farms high above the Columbia River Gorge (town of Corbett) and they were just picking in late August. So many variations.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

... 14 jars in total. Three hours to pick own bowl of crab-apples on Saturday after work, started washing / cooking at 6:30, finished cooking the first batch at about 10:00pm, set the first batch into cheese-cloth baggies, went to bed. Got up at 7:00am Sunday morning and started cooking the second batch. At about 9:00 last night I finished water-bath'ing the jars and set the to cool and listened to the popping sounds. Today, I got home from work, popped open a jar and I taste-tested the jelly on toast.

Very tasty!

Now I will have to go and get some more jars (heard that SuperStore has them on 1/2-price sale), pick another bowl full of crab-apples before it freezes again and put up another two-dozen or so jars of crab-apple jelly ... 


artydance: artydance: artydance: artydance: artydance:


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Just a quick question for those who have made the jellies ... 

I am about to cook up another batch of crabapple jelly and I noticed that my slow-cooker is sitting there unused. Would it be a problem to cook up the crabapples by slowcooker, or, would it still be best to do on the stove like the first time around?


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Hmm .. nobody commented, so, I have half the crabapples in a pot on the stove and half in my slowcooker. I will see what happens and report back.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

And here I thought the only purpose for a crabapple was for middle-schoolers to throw at each other after school.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

I have to report back.

The pot of crabapples cooking on the stove were ready to mash and drain at 10:00pm last night. The pot of crabapples cooking in the slowcooker (on high) were not ready.

This morning at 4:00am I got up, checked the crabapples in the slowcooker, found they were ready, moved them out of the ceramic pot to a stainless one on the stove, mashed them, boiled them for a little longer and then put them into the jelly bags.

When I get home after work, I'll finish the job and hide them away till later. :laugh:


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

... and a grand-total of 35 jars today added to the original 14 jars, I have lots now!


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