Years ago we started carving apple-head dolls in the fall. We lived in the suburbs at that time and would get apples from an older man that had an orchard. We would pick them ourselves and fill huge tubs of them for $5. This is how we were introduced to my favorite cooking apple: Wealthy. This apple used to be widely grown and was Minnesota's state apple. This type of apple makes the best pies and applesauce that you will ever taste, hands down. It's a little tart and is good for fresh eating, also.
Peel your apples (it's fun to try to peel them in one long strip without breaking it) and then carve. You can see that we even carve ears
:-) Dip them in water with lemon juice added to prevent over-browning, and hold for thirty seconds or so. (I don't have an exact measure. This time I added the juice of two large lemons to 2 cups of water.) You can hang them to dry, put them on a rack, or place them on the windowsill of a north- or east-facing window.
When they are dry they will have formed very funny features. You can put them on a stick and make clothes or just enjoy them as they are. One year we varnished them to preserve them.
I'll post an after picture later so you can see how they turn out.
Hope you'll try this homestead fun!
That looks like fun! We will have to try that. We gave up pumpkin carving long ago because none of the kids liked to pull the guts out and with 5 kids that was just more pumpkin guts then my husband and I wanted to deal with. Thanks for the idea.
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