Yes, that pie has real apples! And it's low carb! How can this be? This has been an experiment. I fermented apples in kefir whey, which uses up all the sugar in them. Then I added my own spices and sweeteners to the sugarless apples. I am glad to report I found a way to have my apple pie and eat it too! YES! I do miss apples. Especially in the Fall when all the best apples come out. Around here there are lots of apple orchards, and friends with apple trees giving away yummy apples and I have to turn them away. NO LONGER!
My experiment was a success as far as how this affects my blood sugar. Today I ate a piece. Here were my results...
Before: 101 mg/dl
1 hr. after: 117 mg/dl
2 hrs. after: 100 mg/dl
My bg has been higher than I like lately because I've been fighting off first a UTI, and then a respiratory virus. Everything has been raising me too high, so this was really good.
I will post the recipe as soon as I tweak it some. The crust is made of almond flour with a small amount of coconut flour. This pie was not sweet enough. I should have thought to use twice the amount of sweetener since the apples themselves were no longer sweet. It has a nice unique flavor with the fermented apples. People will ask you, "What is in that?" Ha ha. It can be your little secret. The apples were crisper than normal in a pie, so I think I will slice them thinner next time, and perhaps cook them somewhat before adding to the pie.
I'm very very excited! Apple pie, apple cake, apple crisp... all back in my life again!!! I've done the zucchini pie, etc. and it is good, but it's not apples. This is apples.
Very cool. Enthusiastically awaiting your tweaked recipe. What an inspired idea!
ReplyDeleteYes - this is EXCITING! Can't wait to see what you come up with.
ReplyDeleteMe three!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's gonna take a couple weeks, because that's how long they have to ferment, but I can't wait to see what I come up with either! LOL!
ReplyDeleteNever thought of that! You are amazing.
ReplyDeleteWhere there's a will, there's a way, ha ha, ;)
DeleteI make Kefir all the time and I am doubly excited about fermenting apples! Enjoy your blog so much - will be watching to see how you do this! (Did you know there's a new book coming out in May called "The Art of Fermentation"? - thought you might be interested.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling me about the book! I will look for it!
DeleteCan't wait for the Fermented Apple Pie Recipe. All your recipes are so amazing and I appreciate all your experiments.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ditamac! I made another batch but my crust needs work. I just need to work on the crust. The apple part is really great though. :) Just use any apple pie recipe you have and substitute non-sugar sweeteners of your choice, and omit the flour in the recipe or use half the amount in coconut flour instead. I need to do another batch of apples. I was busy with the potato experiment and need to get back to the apples, lol.
DeleteJust to let you know, I fermented my apples in lightly salted brine, like you would do with sauerkraut and it worked out really nicely. I loved the taste. I filtered the brine and have started a new batch yesterday. It started bubbling almost instantly.
ReplyDeleteI'm not diabetic though, so I can't tell you whether this method was just as effective in eating away the sugar.
By the way, how can you tell when all the sugar is gone, when the apples stop producing bubbles?
Yes, some do use the salt and I'm sure it ferments faster that way. I tried it that was at first but did not like the saltiness of it. But if you like it ok with salt that's great. :) I really can't tell you how you can know when the sugar is gone other than by taste and blood sugar testing. I suppose one could use a diastix (http://www.diastix.com/) that diabetics use to check for sugar, and place it in some of the brine and see how much sugar it shows. Never thought of that before.
DeleteI just ran across this blog while looking for a low carb apple pie recipe. I just wanted to see if you have gotten your recipe ready to publish yet? I am looking forward to trying it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me! No I have not revisited this recipe yet. The crust was giving me some problem, but it's that time of year again! I will have to see if I can do this the way I want. :) Time to get out the whey and the apples.
DeleteHello - did you ever publish this recipe? Sounds good.
ReplyDeleteNo, but it's been on my mind again, being apple season! I bought some good apples and intending to do this. It takes some time to ferment them though. Unfortunately the recipe I used was destroyed in a crash of my MasterCook software after I did it so I have to try to remember what I did and do it again. So I'm working on it.
DeleteHi Ginny,
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge apple pie lover but had to give up sugar and carbs when I had gastric bypass surgery. Please continue to work on this recipe.
Thanks for reminding me! I do need to work on this for sure!
DeleteHi Ginny! Thanks for sharing your recipes :) I was wondering if you could post the apple filling recipe, or at least your best memory? I also create recipes and would lOVE to try my hand at using fermented apple in a pie. That is pure genius :) even if your memory perfect, I'd love to have a starting point. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou know, Lindsey, I've wanted to get back to this recipe time and again and have not!! I just used a standard apple pie recipe for the filling, as I recall, but do not know exactly what it was. The important thing was to start with the fermented apples. If I were to do it again, I would probably use arrowroot as a thickener in it, and I use Truvia as a sweetener but you can use the sweetener of your choice. If I recall, I fermented the apples (about 6 or 7) by just slicing them as you would for pie, putting them in a jar, or crock, adding a couple tbsp. whey, a tsp. of sea salt (optional, you don't need salt when you use whey), cover with spring or filtered water. Use something as a weight on top of the apples to keep them under the water. Cover tightly, let sit on your counter for 3 to 4 days. I think I may have actually left mine for longer. Drain them, and add to your pie. On Cultures For Health, she describes the difference between using just whey and using salt..."You can add salt along with the whey for flavor and to keep the vegetables crunchy. Using whey without any salt will make the ferment go faster but the end product will have a mushy texture and be more susceptible to mold. You can make whey by straining yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk or by clabbering raw milk." http://www.culturesforhealth.com/compare-salt-whey-starter-culture-ferment-vegetables-fruits-condiments
DeleteWhen I did it I just used the whey, and it came out fine, because I did not want my apples to be salty.
I hope that helps!
That does. I'm going to play around with it. I have half a bushel if apples to experiment with :) I'll let you know how it goes!
DeleteGreat! I hope it works well for you. Just bought some apples this morning so I'm going to give it another shot.
DeleteSo I did it. I only fermented my apples for 2.5 dad because I was impatient. The pie came out really good, just a wee bit dry for the filling, I think the fermentation removes some of the inherent moisture, so the 1 TBsp of coconut flour I used made it too dry. I'm going to try again after my family demolishes the pumpkin pie I made yesterday. On a high note, I have nailed a crust which will be posted soon on my blog. :) thanks for the inspiration!
DeleteLindsey, Coconut flour tends to make things too dry for me anyway. I can't swallow things made with coconut flour without choking it seems. Thanks for reporting back! I also did a 3 day ferment. One thing I noted was that it's a good idea to loosen the cover each day to let out the pressure otherwise by the 3rd or 4th day you may have an explosion on your hands! Next time I am going to cover it with a coffee filter and rubber band rather than a tight lid to let air escape but keep out the bad stuff. Also, I saw a video where they covered it with a cabbage leaf and then weighted it down to keep the apples covered otherwise the top apples turn brown. I'm going to do it again, but mine did turn out great anyway and we made apple crisp. I'm looking forward to seeing your pie crust!! That was what I had difficulty with...finding a way to make a crust that held up and didn't get soggy. I love the apples fermented all by themselves too. They have a unique flavor. Next time I think I'm going to add a cinnamon stick to the jar. Otherwise I just add my seasonings and sweetener later.
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