On Thursday, Alistair and I picked a basket of gorgeous crab apples. We picked only the ones we could reach with both my feet firmly on the ground. I suspected that climbing a ladder wearing a heavy, squirming baby on my back might not be the best idea.
On Friday, Ali and I looked up recipes during our afternoon breastfeeding session. We decided to try a low sugar version with no added pectin. Crab apple seeds are full of pectin already. We used 4 cups of crab apple juice to 1.5 cups sugar. It was exactly the right ratio to maintain the delicious tartness of the apples while still creating a firm jelly.
On Saturday, Ian washed the apples, removed the stems and cut the apples in half.
We added water to the pot until the apples were just covered and boiled them for 15 minutes.
We then strained the mixture being sure not to press it through the mesh bag. We wanted perfectly clear jelly for batch 1. After letting the apple sauce strain for 3 hours, we removed this juice for batch 1. I then pressed the remaining juice out of the mixture to use in batch 2. When you press the cooked apples some sediment gets through the sieve which makes the jelly cloudy. Cloudy jelly is still tasty but not technically perfect.
On Sunday, we cooked up the batches of jelly. This involved bringing the juice and sugar to a boil until it reached the jelling temperature of 220 degrees F. We then poured the mixture into sterilized jars and processed them in a water bath for 5 minutes.
And there we have it, a dozen jars of tart and delicious crab apple jelly. I am looking forward to spreading this jelly on fresh, warm homemade bread on a snowy winter morning and remembering the sweet smell of apples and crisp fall breeze on the day Alistair and I harvested the apples together.
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