Cooking with ordinary apples

[Farmer_Gyles]

I have a large ordinary apple tree in the garden and hundreds of apples - I need to know about cooking them - I'm talking about ordinary apples rather than cooking apples

Not sure what the variety is - they start off green and smooth, then turn redder and the skin turns rough - the tree is very overgrown so I suspect many of the apples don't reach full size because the tree is so overgrown - they don't taste brilliant so we never eat them from the tree

Can I use them in jams and crumbles etc? I know how to cook cooking apples etc. Do I use eating apples in the same way, or are they useless for cooking? If I cook them, do I need more sugar or less? Longer cooking time or shorter?
Any other tips or advice?

[rustylady]

You can cook with ordinary (eating) apples. Sugar is according to taste, but I wouldn't have thought you would need as much if you're making crumbles or tarts. If making jam you may need to add lemon juice, and I wouldn't have thought apple jam on its own would be very good. How about blackberry and apple.

[binley100]

The apples on our tree so taste wonderful but they don't keep . We cook them and freeze them ready to go in crumbles etc ., no problem. They won't need as much sugar as cooking apples , just adjust the taste. We don't always bother peeling them either.

[Alison]

They tend to stay more solid when you cook them rather than break down like Bramleys do. Therefore I don't like them much for apple sauce but they're lovely in other things, tonight I'm having a pork cooked on eating apples dish which is lovely as the fruit stays nicely shaped.