The Abundance Network (how to legally scrump apples!)
Many landowners have large gardens with apple trees, but perhaps not the good health, time or tools to harvest them. So they fall to the ground as windfalls. Some get eaten by wildlife, but the rest just rot away.
Apple chunks are choking hazards for babies and swallowing difficulties. Keep apple pips/seeds/cores away from pets due to natural cyanide.
Ask permission before feeding to equines, as too many cause colic. If given permission, feed cut up from a flat palm, to prevent choking).
Sheffield’s Abundance Network has a fantastic free handbook to download, to cover all you need to know for safe and legal scrumping!
It’s best not to take dogs with you, as fruit pips and seeds contain natural cyanide, and can even cause alcohol poisoning.
- Scrumping networks get a few fit volunteers together with ladders and tarpaulins, then they climb the trees to harvest the apples (or other fruits) and the surplus is shared.
- Usually the landowner receives a third, the pickers receive a third – and any extra or mushy fruits go to the community, like making jam and juice to sell at bake sales.
- Abundance Network says for it’s good to choose gardens with side gates, so you are not walking through people’s homes to get to their fruit. It’s also good to only pick fruit a few days before it’s going to be used, to ensure it doesn’t spoil.
- Also invest in a bit of good equipment like telescopic poles and baskets to drop the ‘shaken apples’. You’ll likely also need liability insurance. You’ll also want comfy bags to carry harvested fruit.
And if making juice, invest in a pasteuriser, to make it safe for people to consume (unless sterilising all the containers yourself:
Heat your oven to 160°C, gas mark 3. Then place jars and lids (which have been washed, rinsed and drained in hot soapy water) in the oven for 15 minutes (remove rubber seals and simmer in water for 10 minutes).
Turn off the heat and then use the jars, while still warm.
