Homemade apple compote. No high tech rocket science, but kitchen science!

Freshly harvested apples! Yes, there is an analog version of „Apple”.

Ok, this attempt to begin this article with a little joke probably was not too successful as a start, I have to admit. All the more since it is kind of insider joke for those people, who know our friend Andreas as well as we do. Because the apples for our apple compote actually come from Andreas’s garden. And Andreas is actually our undisputed topmost Techie authority when it comes to internet and media and such. And “Computer” is only available to him as „Apple“, and simply the only device to be used. There’s no need to start discussing. You lose as high as a house. But I digress.

Back to the topic: Andreas is a man of many talents. For example, the famous “green thumb”. And with lots of apple trees in his large old garden.
This year’s particularly hot summer has ensured that Andreas, too, started harvesting apples much earlier than usual. The first local apples were already ripe for picking in mid-August, and are usually much sweeter than usual.
Good care, but above all enough water are apparently the key to the “apple paradise”, at least in Ratingen.
A few days ago Andreas stood in front of our door with a large basket of mixed apples – from fruity, sweet to slightly sour, from the classic “cooking apple” to the fine table apple. Andreas harbours some very old trees, inherited from his father. And what do you do with apples in large quantities? Boil them down! Because they will turn into highly delicious…….

…..Apple compote!

You need
Apples
Water
Sugar (normal household sugar. the apples have enough pectin!)
Some Lemon juice (so that the cut apples do not turn brown in the air)
That’s how to proceed:
1. Peel, seed and chop the apples. Put the apple pieces in a pot and add a small amount of water so that the bottom of the pot is slightly covered.
Bring to the boil over medium heat. Stir constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer slowly until the apple pieces are soft.
3. Now stomp the apples until the desired consistency is achieved, but in such a way that there are still pieces of apple. Add the sugar and bring to the boil again, depending on your sweetening requirements, so that the mixture thickens slightly. It is important to stir over and over so that nothing burns.
To taste, the compote can also be refined with a little vanilla. But we don’t think you have to.
Fill the compote hot directly from the pot into hot rinsed glasses until it is completely under the edge of the glass. Then close the glasses and let them cool down.
Eat immediately! For example as a dessert with some yoghurt, cinnamon, chopped nuts and honey.

We have decided – quite reasonably – for the storage. Sensible decision. Sure. I just went back to the kitchen where the glasses are still cooling. One is already missing……