Golden Apples

Golden apples are the sweetest apples on earth, in my opinion.
We use them in juices, jams and chutneys mostly, but we also eat them ripe with the juices running down our hands.  The taste can be likened to a cross between a mango and an orange.
My neighbour on the corner has a huge golden apple tree, and when it bears fruit between November and January, I am privy to a big bag full of both ripe and unripe apples.....lucky me.

Picking the fruit was easy with the long stick attached to the fruit picker.


I decided I would make some juice and some ice cream.

Golden apples - Spondias dulcis 

Known as Pomme cythere in Trinidad, Dominica, and Martinique and Guadeloupe.
In Jamaica it is known as the June plum.
It is also known as Ambarella.
This mango relative is another fruit brought to the islands by the infamous Captain Bligh. 

The apples can be enjoyed at various stages of maturity.
When unripe, it can be used to make jellies, jams, pickles and juices.
A good source of Vitamin C and rich in iron, it is believed to help diabetes, heart conditions, high blood pressure and urinary troubles.

  

First the apples have to be peeled (some folks leave the skin on which gives a more distinct taste to the juice)

 Cut pieces off the apple leaving the fibrous spiny seed behind

It's time to blend the apple pieces.  Add a cup of warm water to the blender to get them going.

Yes I did plug the blender in.

I made the ice cream first with half of the blended mixture.  I added a can of condensed milk and a tablespoon of almond essence.

Blended it all together nicely.

 Poured it into a plastic container, and placed in the freezer.  After about 4 hours when the mixture had frozen, I took it back out and blended it again to make it nice and creamy.

Poured it back into the container and replaced it in the freezer.

This was the first time I was making the golden apple ice cream and I was pleased with the result.

Next it was time to finish making the juice with the other half of the blended pulp.   I poured it into a strainer so that all the goodness of the juice would flow out.

I added a couple tablespoons of sugar and a tablespoon of almond essence, and put it all back into the blender.

What I ended up with was a lovely sized pitcher of concentrated golden apple juice.

A glass filled with ice cubes came to my rescue.

 

Delicious golden apple juice.....just what I needed after a day like the one I'd just had.

In case you're wondering how the ripe apples are used, we eat them by peeling the skin off, and sit or stand to eat the scrumptious tasting fruit with a little salt to enhance the flavour.  Sometimes, I stand over the kitchen sink and enjoy the apples with the juices running down my hands to my elbows....they're that juicy when ripe.

I can never only eat just one, so I load up my plate with two apples at one go.

Peel the skin off

Sprinkle on a few dashes of salt and gobble off the first one.

Eat the second one just as quickly... leaving the two seeds behind.
That was easy wasn't it?