When I was young the sole use for monkey apples was as a projectile. Whenever a back was turned there would be a pelting of little hard apples to the back of the head. If you turned around, it would be impossible to tell which of your siblings had done it (if not all of them).
I guess that was the problem with having four older siblings, they had to find entertainment via the pecking order. And I was just oh-so fun to pick on.
And still are fun to pick on. Though, we’ve had to move on from the seasonal pelting of monkey apples