Crabapple Verjuice

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p. 422

Ms. Hartley claims crab apples make the best quality apple verjuice.

? lbs crab apples, when their kernels have turned black

Tools required - wooden trough, wooden mallets, coarse weave bag or cheesecloth, a carboy or wooden cask the size of a hogshead (typically between 200 and 300L).

1. When the kernels have turned black, harvest the crab apples and keep them in their baskets to 'sweat' for 7-10 days ('sweating' in this context is to let the apples sit in a shaded warm odour free place where they can finish developing their sugars and flavour profiles. They're done 'sweating' when a squeeze leave finger impressions in the fruit).
2. In non-reactive troughs (wooden is choice), beat and crush with wooden mallets called beetles to release the juices.
3. (This bit I'm uncertain. Dorothy transcribes 'Make a bagge or coarse hair-cloth and fill it with crabbes, and presse and run the liquor into Hogsheads.' If I were to extrapolate, it sounds like something like the 'cheese' made from straw in the Edwardian Farm (I think it was). It may be that the community apply press will do the job just fine without any fuss).
4. (Can I complete the fermentation as I would for wine-making, in a carboy etc?) 

Pickling with verjuice

Food in England, dorothy Hartley, p. 422

'Take three quarts of the sharpest verjuice and put in a cold still and distil it off very softly; the sooner it is distilled in the spring the better for use.'

Verjuice of Apples

Food of England, Dorothy Hartley, p. 421-2

Ms. Hartley provides a definition and explanation of verjuice. This is not a recipe, but someday I would like to figure out how to make this as a replacement for lemon juice. We are planning on getting lemon trees, but with climate change, our mild north-west climate may change for colder winters, which would kill any trees. Since I depend quite a lot on lemons and lemon juice in many of my recipes, a workable alternative would be fantastic.

'Verjuice was in constant use till the last century, when its place was taken by the squeeze of lemon juice. It is really a very sharp cider - not a vinegar. The distilling was of interest, for it would account for the apparent mildness of some of the pickles made. In copying old recipes, very often a sharp cider is much nearer the original than modern vinegar.'

In this separate entry, Dorothy recommends distilling in the spring: http://lamouffetterustique.blogspot.com/2017/03/pickling-with-verjuice.html

ALSO https://www.worldturndupsidedown.com/2015/10/18th-century-crab-apple-verjuice-recipe.html

"Having got crab apples, as soon as the kernels turn black, lay them in a heap to sweat, then pick them from stalks and rottenness, then in a long trough, with stamping beetles, stamp them to a mash, and make a bag of coarse haircloth, as square as the press, fill it with the stamped crab-apples, and being well pressed, put the liquor up in a clean vessel." (from The New British Jewel. London: Printed for Osborne and Griffin, and H. Mozley, Gainsborough, 1788

This is better explained in the other entry on Dorothy's book: http://lamouffetterustique.blogspot.com/2017/03/crabapple-verjuice.html

ALSO

https://www.woodland-ways.co.uk/blog/wild-food/green-juice/

"Today verjuice is making a comeback, and is used by many of the top chefs. It can be incorporated into salad dressings, used for deglazing pans, making sauces, fruit compotes, fish stock and in fact anywhere that vinegar or lemon juice may be used.

"There are several different recipes around, some partially ferment the apples first or sometimes a lacto-fermentation is encouraged but in this recipe it is just the unadulterated juice. It’s very simple to make and the 750g of crab apples that I collected yeided about 400ml of the finished verjuice.

1. Wash the apples
2. Blanch the apples in boiling water for a few minutes (this will soften the apples and make pressing them easier)
3. Remove the stalks
4. Put into a food processor and blitz into a fine pulp
5. Put into a jelly bag or wrap in a muslin cloth
6. Either press in an apple press, squeeze in a potato ricer or place in a sieve and weigh down with something heavy (cans of food etc.)
7. Pass the juice through fine muslin cloth
8. Bottle
9. It’s worth making sure everything is spotlessly clean and sterilising the bottle, you can even add a splash of vodka to inhibit bacterial growth.

Toffee Apples

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p. 421

'Before the general importation of plantation sugar - they would be quite expensive. Probably small windfall apples dipped in a toffee of honey and beeswax bedabbled fairs of St. Bartholomew even before sugar, as we know it, came into general use.'

(how many) small apples
quarter lb butter
half lb treacle (molasses? what kind?)
1 lb brown sugar
1 Tbsp vinegar (apple cider?white?)

1. Wash the apples and dry thoroughly. Poke in the stick.
2. Melt the butter in a deep pot and then add the rest of the ingredients.
3. Bring to a boil and keep on a roiling boil for 20 minutes (what candy thermometre temp?).
4. Quickly dip the apples, (probably doing a rotation of apples to dip, allow to cool and dip again to develop a good crust).

Apple Custard Tansy

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p. 421

3 large apples (1 1/2 lbs), cored, peeled and sliced thin
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp sugar
3 eggs
2 thirds cup whole milk or light cream
1 cup of fine bread crumbs (the same volume as the apples)
Dash nutmeg
half cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 300F.
2. In an oven-proof fry pan, fry the apple in the butter until soft and then mash. Save about a quarter cup to serve on top when ready.
3. Mix in the Tbsp of sugar and smooth over the bottom of the pan.
4. Whisk together the eggs and milk along with the nutmeg and sugar, and blend in the bread crumbs.
5. Pour the custard over the apple and bake very slowly for (until set).
6. Serve hot with a dollop of the reserve apple mash.

Apple Tansy - Testing

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p. 421

1 - Very interesting! The instructions I worked out are pretty good. It ends up making a kind of thin apple soufflé, but not quite. I had no rose water but I'm curious to taste what it (or other flavoring agents) might do.

2 - The bottom seems to tend to scorch, the meringue being so delicate. I'm baking it like a souffle instead.

3 - Baking it seems to work fine! 30 minutes is good. I'm tempted to try reducing the sugar to 1/3 cup.

4 - Tried it with 1/3 cup and Ben thought it wasn't sweet enough. It could be that it needs more apple (I didn't have the full 500g) but I think I agree. Since a 1/2 cup is too much for me, I will offer a range, and next time I make this I will use 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp (or a rounded 1/3 cup) of sugar. Everything else is spot on. NOTE: Upon re-reading the original, it seems I'm supposed to fold the cooked tansy kind of like an omelette but with the apple inside! What?!?

(1760?)

3 medium apples (500g), peeled, cored and cut in eighths
1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter
4 eggs, separated 
4 tsps. water
1 Tbsp rose water (or 1 tsp vanilla)
Dash nutmeg
½ 1/3 cup sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In an oven-proof 8" fry pan fry the apples in a single layer in the butter over medium-high heat just until soft. Remove from the heat. Watch carefully, they can scorch quickly.
3. Whip together the egg yolks, water, rose water, nutmeg and sugar until the yolks triple in volume.
4. Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff-but-not-dry peaks form.
5. Gently stir in a big spoonful of the whites into the yolk mixture to lighten it, then pour this into the remaining white, gently folding to incorporate and also to preserve as much loft as possible in the whites. If there are white bits left in the mix, no worries.
6. Spread the meringue over the apples in the hot pan and immediately put in the oven. Bake 30 minutes or until the meringue browns nicely on top.  
7. ORIGINAL INSTRUCTIONS: Pour this over the apples in the pan and fry for about 5-6 minutes or until the underside starts to brown. Set the oven to broil and brown the top before serving.

1760's instructions:

"Three or four apples pare and slice and fry in a little of butter till soft, take the yolks of 4 eggs and 4 spoonfuls of water, and rose-water, and nutmeg and sugar and beat well together, and whip the whites of the eggs to sno' and stir it in, and pour over the soft apples in the pan, and let it cook till set, brown the top side before the fire [under the grill in a modern stove] and fold with the apple pulp inside and dredge sugar and serve."

Apple Pasties

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p. 420

'(1600) Cook the quartered apples with sugar and stick of cinnamon, add a piece of fresh butter, some lemon juice and orange-flower water. Put the mixture into thin pastry cases, seal well, and fry them. Dredge sugar and serve hot.'

1 recipe Cookie Pie Crust (is this enough for 4 pasties?)
1 egg, beaten
1 quarter cup sugar
3 medium apples
cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp orange water
1 Tbsp butter

1. Core, peel and quarter the apples. Cook with the sugar, cinnamon stick and lemon juice until the apple softens but does not lose its shape. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and orange water. Allow to cool completely so as not to melt the dough.
2. Prepare the dough and separate into 4 balls. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Roll out to about 9 inches across. Plop a quarter of the cool apple mixture in the middle of each circle of dough. 
3. Brush all around the edges of the dough circles with egg. Seal the edges by drawing opposite sides together, brush a bit more egg along the side of the sealed edges and fold over. 
4. Either fry in butter, (I think?) or bake in a 425F oven for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350F and cook another 45 minutes or until golden (if baked, I likely don't need to cook the apple, and should use cinnamon powder instead of the stick).