# What to do with 300 premature apples? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711 "2004-06-29T15:43:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Skott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skott)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711/1 "2004-06-29T15:43:37Z")
The other day, I found it necessary to trim my apple tree due to the fact that it was looking like it was being blown over in a hurricane, despite the lack of wind. After pruning, upwards of three hundred half-size granny smith apples came down with the branches. Now, they’re not exactly ripe, but I hate to see anything go to waste. Is there any recipe or food out there that requires premature apples to make? What can I do with them? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711/2 "2004-06-29T15:48:35Z")
At this stage they will be quite sour and packed with pectin; any recipe that calls for [crabapples](http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=crabapple+recipes&spell=1) would work well. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711/3 "2004-06-29T16:21:46Z")
Years ago, my father had the same dilemma. He decided to pile the apples around the base of a dying pine tree in our back yard. “The only pineapple tree in the area” he’d joke. Within a year, the pine tree thrived and grew to be rather mighty, so it turned out to work well as plant food, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711/4 "2004-06-29T17:01:21Z")
Call the local zoo, if there is one, and ask if they can use them for animal feed. Or perhaps a local stable. ---
**Author:** ![Skott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Skott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skott)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711/5 "2004-06-29T17:09:42Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > At this stage they will be quite sour and packed with pectin; any recipe that calls for [crabapples](http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=crabapple+recipes&spell=1) would work well. Interesting idea. What does crabapple juice/sauce taste like? ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711/6 "2004-06-29T17:38:13Z")
As someone else already suggested, compost them so your future Granny Smiths might turn out better. Or, make them into cider. (Don’t ask me how, though. I have no clue.) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711/7 "2004-06-29T17:43:57Z")
> [@dotchan](#): > > As someone else already suggested, compost them so your future Granny Smiths might turn out better. > > Or, make them into cider. (Don’t ask me how, though. I have no clue.) Cider, or apple pies – but increment the amount of sugar called for in the pies, and add some sugar or sweet syrup to the cider. [Instructions for making cider](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/scrumpy/cider/cider.htm) (This deals with how to make hard cider, but the initial phase gives the right instructions for how to make the non-alcoholic good-for-the-kiddies kind.) ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711/8 "2004-06-29T19:23:12Z")
> [@](#): > > What to do with 300 premature apples? Stem cell research? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Skott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skott)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711/9 "2004-06-29T20:21:43Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > Stem cell research? 😉 Well, there are plenty of stems, true 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-300-premature-apples/252711/10 "2004-06-29T21:36:16Z")
> [@Skott](#): > > Interesting idea. What does crabapple juice/sauce taste like? Crabapple jelly is very nice; either as a breakfast spread or as an accompaniment to roast meats. Juice might be very sour, but even that could prove useful; in olden tymes, they used to make something called verjuice out of sour apples; it would be used for the same sorts of things as we might use lemon juice or vinegar.