If Only I Had An Apple

Finding creative uses for apples
Apples make for a healthy and delicious snack and apple juice is an excellent way to wet your whistle on a hot summer day. When it comes to using apples, there is so much more than simply shining up one your shirt and digging in or pouring apple juice into a drinking glass. Apples can be used a variety of interesting ways that can do everything from sprucing up standard recipes to making different food items last longer.

Roasting a chicken
If you want to produce a chicken straight from the oven that is moist and tender to the point of falling off the bone, cooking it with apples is the way to go. Its as simple as pushing some apple pieces inside the bird, like you would if it was stuffing. After cooking the chicken, remove the apples and discard them. The flesh from the chicken will absorb the juices created from the apple pieces as they steam through the chicken, making it tastier and succulent.

Keeping cakes fresh
Apples can extend the shelf life of any cake you bought from a bakery or made from scratch at home. Slice an apple in half and place one piece in a container with the cake, it will help the cake hold onto the moisture in the sponge longer than in a refrigerator.

Absorb excess salt
If your soup or stew has too much salt in it, an apple can rescue your dish from giving your taste buds a sodium overload. A few apple wedges dumped into a pot and stirred together with the soup or stew in question will pull in excess salt much like a magnet draws in metal. After about 10 minutes, you can strain out the apple pieces and the extra salt will be gone with them.

Ripen tomatoes
You can turn a batch of green tomatoes red in rapid fashion with the aid of apples. Just place the green tomatoes in a paper bag with an already ripe apple and let them sit for a couple of days. The tomatoes will appear as ripe as any you may find at the grocers, in taste and texture too.

Soften brown sugar
Brown sugar can cake and harden over time, especially if it is exposed to humid conditions. Apples can make it a temporary change. Place the apple in a sealable plastic bag with the brown sugar that has hardened and after sealing, place it in a dry spot for two days. When you bring the brown sugar out again, it will be as soft as the day you first purchased it.