Brown crab apple flesh

[E&MBees]

I have a bumper of crab apples from two trees called Jelly King. I started prepping them this afternoon but when cut open the flesh is brown inside. I’ve found one orchard nursery which states it’s not a problem and the apples can still be used to make jelly. Is this the case? Here are some photos. Thanks

Edit:
I found further references to the browning of the flesh, it appears to be a characteristic of Jelly King. I decided to start cooking the fruit and as it cooks the browning clears. Hopefully its not poisonous !

 

[blackcloud]

As youngsters the scrumpy we were given as payment in lieu when haymaking had rats floating around in it
Never did us any harm.

Fnnaaagh!

 

[pargyle]

As youngsters the scrumpy we were given as payment in lieu when haymaking had rats floating around in it
Never did us any harm.

Fnnaaagh!

I rather think that was a myth .... not sure why it was ever put about - even my grandfather (who was a fervent cider drinker) reckoned it was a load of rubbish. There were stories or rats, hens heads and goodness knows what else supposed to be put in the scrumpy vat ... I rather think there would have been an awful lot of very ill people who drank scrumpy if it was true ....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I rather think there would have been an awful lot of very ill people who drank scrumpy if it was true ....

I remember scrumpy drinking season when I lived in Bristol, opposite the 'New Found Out', Green street, Totterdown, so using your yardstick, yes, maybe it is true

 

[JamezF]

I rather think that was a myth .... not sure why it was ever put about - even my grandfather (who was a fervent cider drinker) reckoned it was a load of rubbish. There were stories or rats, hens heads and goodness knows what else supposed to be put in the scrumpy vat ... I rather think there would have been an awful lot of very ill people who drank scrumpy if it was true ....

Similar stories always circulated here about Taunton Cider (back when it was actually a proper cider company with a brewery in Norton Fitzwarren rather than just a brand that has nothing to do with Taunton) and they are also sometimes associated with certain beer breweries. As you say, it does seem rather unlikely, but perhaps it's a story that arose from the practice of hanging the leg of a sheep or pig or a side of beef in the vat (which genuinely used to be done as far as I'm aware) to provide additional nutrients for the yeast.

James

 

[Bryang]

When I was stationed at RAF Locking, Weston super Mare, one of my jaunts to earn a bit more money was picking/gathering cider apples. One of my favourite farms was between Banwell and Winscombe.. Lovely farming family, always a good meal laid on. Plus they had 2 delightful daughters ( cough cough)... I asked the farmer why they had legs of pork and sheep hanging in the cider vats.. too pickle the joints for winter and add extra flavour to them. I think they also put them in barrels of salt to dry them off after the "piklin". Also picked strawberries there in the summer months.

 

[JamezF]

When I was stationed at RAF Locking, Weston super Mare, one of my jaunts to earn a bit more money was picking/gathering cider apples. One of my favourite farms was between Banwell and Winscombe.

That's actually very close to where Thatcher's Cider are, I believe. Maybe it was them?

James

 

[Bryang]

That's actually very close to where Thatcher's Cider are, I believe. Maybe it was them?

James

Can't remember their name(s).. this was in 1960/63.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

When I was with the Volunteer gliding squadron at Swansea, we billeted at Locking when gliding from Halesland flying field, on the way there in the morning we saw a local farm selling cider can't remember the price now but the sold 'slops' for 50p a gallon it was fine, just a bit thicker and full of pips and peel so you had to suck it through your teeth! We sampled it that morning whilst waiting for the weather to clear, when the squadron leader called later and saw the mess on us - he suspended flying for 24 hours!!

 

[JamezF]

When I was with the Volunteer gliding squadron at Swansea, we billeted at Locking when gliding from Halesland flying field, on the way there in the morning we saw a local farm selling cider can't remember the price now but the sold 'slops' for 50p a gallon it was fine, just a bit thicker and full of pips and peel so you had to suck it through your teeth! We sampled it that morning whilst waiting for the weather to clear, when the squadron leader called later and saw the mess on us - he suspended flying for 24 hours!!

What on earth possessed people to make such a thing (other than that people would still pay 50p/gallon for it)? I have read that after pressing the apples for the first time, some people used to soak the spent pomace in water and then press it again to make a much weaker cider, but even that sounds dubious. When I take the pomace out of my press it's like thick cardboard and I can't believe a decent screw press did a worse job.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What on earth possessed people to make such a thing

I think it was just the leavings from the bottom of the vat, rather than being made especially for the power wash my seat at the end of a session brigade (there was also a pub in Bristol with a 'cider bar' designed especially with quarry tiled floors, and walls, screwed down scaffold plank furniture, and a central drain so they could just wash the mess away at the end of an evening) and they just decided to put in on sale to see if some idiot would buy it