Looking for apple or plum inspiration?

[Islay]

I just had to strip the trees at my mother's (everyone going away for a few weeks, and we knew that they wouldn't survive), so have had a week of drying and making jam and chutney. I made:

Apple jelly with various herbs, including mint, rosemary and thyme
Apple and plum jam
Apple and raisin chutney
Dried apple pieces (very pretty with pink apples!)
Spiced preserved whole plums
Spiced plum jelly
Cinnamon apple butter
And a bunch of other things I can't remember just now...

The recipes for everything so far are up on my blog (address in signature). The quantities are all in pounds and ounces. Hope that they are useful for someone!

I am exhausted by preserving. When people told me that August was the busiest month if you grow your own, I didn't really understand what they meant. All I've had to deal with is apples and plums, and I suddenly get it.

[ina]

There seems to be only one thing missing from your list - make your own prunes! I find that home dried plums taste much better than bought prunes (probably depends on the plum variety).

My, you have been busy. I wish I had some plums to make jam with...

[Millymollymandy]

But what if she finds a maggot in her prune? I would never, EVER, dare to dry any of my plums whole!

You have been a busy bee Islay - I thought I was busy last week just making chutney one day and jam another day!

[Islay]

I tried drying plum halves in a very low oven, but even after 6 hours they weren't really remotely dry. I've popped them in the airing cupboard, but I'm not optimistic. What did I do wrong?

Have been a very very busy bee. I worked out yesterday that I've preserved pretty much a bushel of apples (about 42lbs). Most of that came from one tree!

Only a couple of weeks until the pear madness begins...

[red]

Only a couple of weeks until the pear madness begins...

most of my pears are split due to all the rain in July - so not sure what Iim going to do with them ...
already ahve enough pear liqueur

maybe some spiced pickled pears or something...

[Millymollymandy]

We are eating our early pears but they are all covered with scab and very small. Mostly fine inside once peeled though - and what we've got is better than most years!!!

Strangely my greengages are not sweet this year - barely sweet even as overripe windfalls. Bought some German Quetsch plums from the shops the other day (first time I've ever seen them in Brittany and they are my fave) and they were soft, but completely sour! Is this a strange year for non-sweet plums?