A lot of parks, nature trails, and conservation areas in Ontario used to be part of farmland or simply held the numerous varieties of apples prior to agricultural reforms by settlers. Test the apples you scavenge before picking them, some may be to sour to use (unless you like that). I go to my neighbor’s backyard, they have a giant apple tree that provides about 6-7 banana boxes of apples.
The apples I believe are McIntosh, which was a very popular cultivated apple in Canada, beginning in the 17th century onwards. A lot of the land around the area where I live used to be farmland. I love going foraging for mulberries, black raspberries, cherries, and Saskatoon berries in the summer as the parks in my area are in abundance of them.





Vegan Apple Crumble
Ingredients
- 3 cups homemade apple sauce unsweetened
- 1 cup rolled oats extra thick – gluten-free
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup almonds
- 1/4 cup buckwheat
- 1/4 cup chia seeds
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1 tbsp cinnamon + extra (optional)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp grey sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Celcius.
- In a food processor add in the hazelnuts and almonds. Blitz until they are roughly chopped into smaller pieces.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl add in the rolled oats, chia seeds, chopped almonds and hazelnuts, buckwheat, coconut sugar, cinnamon and salt and mix them together until well incorporated.
- Add in the 1/4 cup of coconut oil and vanilla into the dry mixture. Incorporate well.
- In a large pie or casserole dish pour in the 3 cups of apple sauce. Over the top of that add the crumble, adding it slowly until all of the surface is covered.
- Back for between 35-45 minutes, or until the top has turned crispy and golden brown in colour.
- Let it cool for about 10 minutes. Serve as is or with a scoop of coconut ice cream or coconut whipped cream.
Nutrition


Amanda Filipowicz is a certified nutritional practitioner (CNP) with a bachelor in environmental studies (BES) from York University. She also has certification in clinical detoxification, prenatal and postnatal care as well as nutrition for mental health. She has been working as a nutritionist since 2013 and is a lifelong proponent of eating healthy.