Post by Carolyn on Aug 30, 2017 10:12:35 GMT -5
This is the recipe I used for the crabapple jelly I made recently. It is flexible & can be adapted to any amount of apples.
Prepare crabapple juice.
Wash & cut crabapples. I cut in half or quarters just to make sure they were still good (picked from my brother's tree) but if you know they are good, you don't have to cut them. I removed the stems & blossom end. Place crabapples in a large pot and add enough water so it just shows among the apples. Don't completely cover the apples. Cook until soft (10 - 15 minutes). Pour mixture into a colander lined with a triple layer of cheesecloth over a large bowl. Let drain. (May take 3 hours or more). The recipe I read said to not press the pulp to speed the process or it would make the jelly cloudy but my husband put weights on the remaining pulp to press out all of the juice & my jelly did not end up cloudy when it was finished.
Make the jelly
Measure out the crabapple juice and place in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Do not use more than 7 or 8 cups of juice at one time. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Measure out 3/4 cups of sugar for each cup of juice. No other ingredients are needed. Crabapples have natural pectin. The instructions I read said to warm the sugar in the oven so it would dissolve faster & not lower the temperature of the cooked juice as much. I placed my sugar in a metal pan in a warm (350F or so) oven for 5 or 10 minutes but made sure it did not start to melt. (I started from a cold oven & put the pan in right away so it never got to the full temperature). After simmering the juice for 20 minutes add the sugar & return to a boil. Let boil without stirring until it reaches 220F on a candy/deep fry thermometer or until it passes a jell test. (Either a drop wrinkles after a moment on a cold plate when pushed, or the syrup forms 2 side by side drips on a spoon). Pour into hot sterilized jars & seal.
Prepare crabapple juice.
Wash & cut crabapples. I cut in half or quarters just to make sure they were still good (picked from my brother's tree) but if you know they are good, you don't have to cut them. I removed the stems & blossom end. Place crabapples in a large pot and add enough water so it just shows among the apples. Don't completely cover the apples. Cook until soft (10 - 15 minutes). Pour mixture into a colander lined with a triple layer of cheesecloth over a large bowl. Let drain. (May take 3 hours or more). The recipe I read said to not press the pulp to speed the process or it would make the jelly cloudy but my husband put weights on the remaining pulp to press out all of the juice & my jelly did not end up cloudy when it was finished.
Make the jelly
Measure out the crabapple juice and place in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Do not use more than 7 or 8 cups of juice at one time. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Measure out 3/4 cups of sugar for each cup of juice. No other ingredients are needed. Crabapples have natural pectin. The instructions I read said to warm the sugar in the oven so it would dissolve faster & not lower the temperature of the cooked juice as much. I placed my sugar in a metal pan in a warm (350F or so) oven for 5 or 10 minutes but made sure it did not start to melt. (I started from a cold oven & put the pan in right away so it never got to the full temperature). After simmering the juice for 20 minutes add the sugar & return to a boil. Let boil without stirring until it reaches 220F on a candy/deep fry thermometer or until it passes a jell test. (Either a drop wrinkles after a moment on a cold plate when pushed, or the syrup forms 2 side by side drips on a spoon). Pour into hot sterilized jars & seal.