I moved into an apartment last year with garden access and a tree in the backyard that the landlord says is a crabapple. He wants to replace it with a real apple tree, and I said I would be happy to use the crabapples for jelly, etc. It produced apple-like pink blossoms in spring and now has clusters of small bright red "apples," the size and shape of small plums, that taste rather bitter.
What has me confused is it doesn't look like a normal apple tree--its branches start almost at the base and are quite vertical, it has lots of leaves evenly distributed, and its shape is tall (15-20 feet) and columnar. I'm used to apple trees having a distinct trunk and being short and gnarled and horizontal spreading.
Is this still something I can cook with, or is it just ornamental (or even unsafe?)
Thanks,
Sarah