Whether they’re purchased at the farmers market, snagged at a pick-your-own farm or foraged from a local tree, apples are the tastiest part of autumn. Here are six ideas for enjoying apples over the coming months

Dried apple rings

Dried apple rings are as simple as peeling, coring and slicing your apples, then slowly drying in a dehydrator or a 130-135° oven. Paul recently shared the design for his DIY dehydrator, too. Cool!

Apple butter

Apple butter is a simple way to process a lot of apples at once. A jar makes the perfect holiday party gift! Christa recently posted a member blog about her process – what’s yours?

Apple chutney

Apple chutney is an explosion of flavors. JoyfulC shared this recipe, which includes zesty spices like coriander, cinnamon and cayenne. Experiment with other exotic flavors, like cardamom, cloves and ginger!

Apple cider

If you’re planning on making a lot of cider, a press is the best way to go, but there is a simple way to make small batches of apple cider using a food processor or blender (we all have one or the other, right?)

Simply quarter cleaned fruit (trimming away any bruises) and puree until smooth. Then create a pouch out of a couple of layers of cheesecloth , fill the pouch with the puree, and squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can from the fruit. You can store the resulting cider in the refrigerator for two weeks. Of course, there is hard cider being discussed in the Brewer’s Pub Group, too!

Apple pie filling

A way to make delicious, from-scratch apple pie faster? Genius! Canning pie filling is a tradition with bakers this time of year. Sue cold packs her apples, processes in a water bath, then uses her filling in fried pocket pies and filled donuts. What’s your recipe?

Apple cider donuts

Speaking of donuts (and cider) here’s a cider donut recipe that promises to please any crowd.