Aim, Fete, Batch!

For you Christmas treat recipients, you’ll be happy to know the 2024 Nai Nai’s Apple Spice work is done and dusted. Thought I’d share the process via photos, but first, two details that make this batch special.

First, the fruit comes from an orchard called Atlanta. I know, way down here on the Mornington Peninsula, in a place called Moorooduc, an 18-minute drive from my Somers home. Can’t pass up the opportunity when I discover its existence.

Second, the apples are Kanzi, Swahili for ‘hidden treasure’, which is a recent Belgian cultivar from a natural cross between Gala and Braeburn. Have not come across the type before but recommended by the orchard for its crispy tartness.

$20 cash for nine kilos (about 20 pounds), which in a regular supermarket would’ve cost anywhere from $55-$65. They’re deemed seconds for their visual imperfections, but that’s no concern to me. Better yet, they are large, which makes for easier peeling.

Any bruising is mostly skin deep, so little fruit is lost in peeling and quartering.

(First set of six apples, resting in cold water.)

Next step is using the grater to slice thin strips. I do this after the water bowl is full.

(First layer done.)

(First layer covered in sugar.)

(Next six apples sliced, layered, and covered in sugar. My work is done for today.)

(The following day the sugar has melted into a thick syrup. Though sitting on a kitchen counter overnight, the sugar keeps the fruit from turning brown.)

(Translucent after 25 minutes of cooking, the steam fogging my lens!)

(Deepened color during the last three minutes of cooking, from the added cinnamon and cloves.)

(Jars complete, ready for Christmas.)

Nine kilos required three separate cooking sessions over a week’s time, yielding twenty-one (almost 22!) jars.

With all the new friends we’re making in Somers, not sure that’s enough this year…