I learned at a young age the value of the wisdom which can only be gleaned by those who have lived a lifetime before us. My parents taught me to listen and they drove the lessons of my grandparents home through repetition and life application. These are things I was fortunate enough to be taught by example and I’ll just bet you have already been taught them, too. Still, it never hurts to have a few of them written out plainly all in one place.
So today, as I bring you an easy method to freeze apples which my mother learned from her step mother, I’m also bringing you a little bit of wisdom directly from the folks who came before us with hopes that you’ll be kind enough to share some of your life’s lessons at the end of this post as well. ~clears her throat and steps up to the black board~
First off, a help with perspective:
Troubles are temporary. So is life.
Decide which one you want to focus on.
This is an extension of “This too, shall pass”, which is a blessing and a curse. Most folks think of it in terms of hard times: hang on, this too shall pass, but it also works for good times and moments of joy.
Holding your newborn babe? This too, shall pass.
Spending an afternoon with your mother? This too shall pass.
Live in the moment, Focus on what is important. Don’t let that time with your mother pass with you living in the hardships instead of the joy. That’s not to say don’t worry about paying your bills but don’t spend all of your time in the presence of your loved ones seeing only your bills instead of their faces before you.
If you can’t say something nice…
This is a big one that most folks learn around preschool, but it seems in our modern era that a great many have either forgotten it or decided to ignore it. In the age of the internet where people get all trumped on a power trip of anonymity, it is even worse. Before we are quick to think ill of another, and most especially before we are quick to speak ill of another, we need to put ourselves in their shoes and realize that they are a person just like us. It never hurts to think of how our words will affect their family either. Remember, the trues test of character is who we are when no one is looking.
Just because someone has money doesn’t mean they’re better than you. Just because someone doesn’t have money, doesn’t mean you’re better than them.
Good people come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. Don’t let the friend of your heart pass you by because you can’t see past one of these obstacles.
Wisdom doesn’t come automatically with age.
This is a very important one to me that I am always striving for. When I was a girl, I thought everyone older than me was automatically wiser than me. That rug gets pulled out from under your feet pretty quick! I’ve found that the folks who seem to have the most wisdom and understanding are those who have valued and sought it throughout their lives, using each situation to try to become a better person or to have a better understanding of others.
More often than not, doing the right thing won’t be easy and no one will even know you did it.
Your reward for being a good person is being a good person. Be glad you can sleep at night and get over it. You may not have a parade thrown in your honor but personal pride counts for something. Hold your head high and know your Mama would be proud of the person you have become. Honor, Integrity, and your good name cannot be bought or sold. They must work for and careful cultivated through a lifetime.
At the end of the day, there is always something to be grateful for.
To me, no one was a better teacher of this than my great grandmother, Lela. Most folks who consider themselves to have hard lives by today’s standards would change their thinking pretty quick were they to live just half a day in Lela’s shoes during her younger years. A sharecropper with four children to feed and take care of and a husband whose primary talent was taking what little money they acquired and spending it for his own entertainment purposes. She and her children worked from sun up til sun down, sometimes going to bed hungry because there simply wasn’t any food. They’d come in from a long days work in the fields and the kids would fall asleep wherever they sat first. Lela would walk around with a bowl of water and an old rag and wash the dirt off their feet.
But you know what? Lela always felt she had a lot to be grateful for. All four of her children were healthy. They had a roof over their heads, and though it was meager, they had food. Lela was wise enough to see these things as blessings rather than focus on their predicament as a curse. As a result of her attitude, we are now on our fifth generation of positive thinkers in this family and every single one of them have been happier and more fulfilled by growing up learning from her teachings of gratitude.
This is where you come in. What life’s lessons have you been taught by your elders that have guided you to be the person you are today? I’d love to hear them and a little about the person who loved you enough to teach them to you. I’m always talking about my grandparents, now it’s your turn!
Eventually, I get around to the tutorial so here are the apples we’re gonna freeze today.
This method works for any type of apples. Today I am freezing Jonagold and Fuji. If you’re going to be freezing them for a pie later, you might want to cut up a few granny smith and include some in each bag.
You’ll need about a gallon of water. First though, pour about a cup of that warm into a large bowl. Add about 1/4 of a cup of salt.
Stir until salt is dissolved.
Add the remaining water. This water should be cold.
Now we’re gonna peel our apples and slice them up one at a time.
Cut them however you prefer.
I usually do sections.
Be sure and remove the core.
There we go!
As you cut them, place all of the slices in the salt water.
I left the skins on some of mine because I prefer my fried apples to have the skin on.
Push them down in the water a bit and make sure they all get submerged good at some point.
After they have soaked for a few minutes, drain them in a colander.
Then place in freezer bags and label.
Laying them out flat like this when you freeze them will keep them from sticking together and allow them to thaw quicker.
Here is a bag of apples a few days later, frozen and still beautiful thanks to the wisdom from the “old folks”!
You can take these apples directly from frozen and use them fried, in muffins, cakes, or pies!
No, they won’t have a salty taste!:)
Freezing Apples Ingredients - Apples
- 1 Gallon water
- ¼ C Salt
- Freezer Bags
Instructions - Place one cup warm water in a large bowl. Stir in salt until dissolved. Add remaining water cold. Peel and slice apples (can leave skin on them if desired). Place each slice in salt water as you go along. When done with all apples, stir water a bit to make sure all have been submerged. Drain in a colander. Place immediately in freezer bags, label, and freeze.
- Apples
- 1 Gallon water
- ¼ C Salt
- Freezer Bags
- Place one cup warm water in a large bowl. Stir in salt until dissolved. Add remaining water cold. Peel and slice apples (can leave skin on them if desired). Place each slice in salt water as you go along. When done with all apples, stir water a bit to make sure all have been submerged. Drain in a colander. Place immediately in freezer bags, label, and freeze.
Some of my favorite Southern Plate apple recipes:
- Apple Dapple Cake
- Apple Skillet Cake
- Fried Apples
- Crock Pot Apple Butter
- Apple Flautas
- Apple Orchard Snack Cake
Live in the North Alabama area and looking for apples? Try Isom’s orchard in Athens, that is where these beauties came from!
“The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”
~George Santayana. To submit your quote, click here.
Here we suffer grief and pain – over the road they do the same – Nanny Nellie Oxborrow 1892-1979
There’s no pain like your own pain – Nanny Rosa Jenkins 1880-1970
And thank you for the apple freezing method!
Just picked all my cooking apples off the tree today and wasn’t sure how to freeze so many, your article was a just what I needed and such a quick method…thank you so much!
You are very welcome!!
hello.. i found Gravenstein in northern California, they are delicious to make applesauce and juice…
Nothing to do with cookery, but one thing my Grandma told that I’ve never forgotten is….
There’s only one perfect baby in the world, and every mother has it.
What a wise woman!!!
Going to try the freezing of the apples today. I have a case full of Gravenstein apples yum. Wish me luck
Good Luck Jill!! I know you will do just fine though! Where are Gravenstein apples from? I a man not sure if I have ever had one of that variety.
Gravenstiens are a delicious sweet/tart apple that are available in August…and they make the best pies! Here in SE Massachusetts, we get them at the Big Apple in Wrentham. The season for them is short, so you have to get them early! They freeze well for pies all winter. We are actually preparing ours for the freezer today.
What a blessing. As I refresh my freezing process information for apples, this was the first I looked at. Your words so thoughtful and true. Your method wonderful. A life lesson I wish to pass on is one my grandfather told me as a teen. “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face!” He told this to me when I was upset with my dad. It took me years to really comprehend the connection to my actions. I heeded the lessons handed down to me, as well as many great family recipes. Thank you!
Christy, I find myself now the “matriarch ” figure about to have my first grandchild . It has been difficult losing the stability of parents, grandparents, many aunts and uncles as well as first cousins who had been very important in my life. I was the youngest of 69 grandchildren if you can believe! So much of what you say rings a bell in my early consciousness of my grandmothers kitchen. So much I learned from parents who were born before 1919 is so new to the generation of my own children due to so many changes in life. Yet I am glad to now be able to share tidbits of my knowledge and “old fashioned skills ” if I can. I now am able to begin a small garden, plan canning of fresh tomato sauce, learn new techniques of cooking with newer appliances and help my children with anything I can. I also find that beside cooking, sewing is a disappearing art! I am planning my first grandchilds quilt as my mother would have done. This is as my grandmother would have done and her mother before her. Traditions such as this bind family together. I am grateful to have found your great recipe and traditions as well. Thanks!
This is my first time on this post. I have really enjoyed it. Thanks for all the words of wisdom. Guess I need to go freeze some apples! God bless all you ladies.