Spiced Crab Apple Jelly
This is a staple recipe in our family, if the cupboards are out of crab apple Jelly before September when the new batches are being made breakfasts just do not feel the same. Delicious spread on warm toast, or served with cold or hot cuts of pork. The high levels of pectin in the cores of the apples means there is no question of this not setting as long as you get it up to temperature. I love this recipe it is my go to for crab apples, be they domesticated or wild. The joy of this recipe is that the apples just need chopping in two to ensure there are no passengers and then they are ready to go in the pan, very little prep time and no faff!
Servings 3 lb
Equipment
- 1 Jelly bag or fine Muslin
- 1 Jam Pan
- 6-7 1/2 pound jars
- 1 Jam Funnel
- 1 Jam Thermometer
- 1 Scum Spoon - Wide slotted spoon
Ingredients
- 2 Lemons
- 1 oz Root Ginger
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 1.5 lb Sugar Granulated
- 1 knob Butter can use veg oil if vegan
- 4.5 lb Crab Apple
- 1 Handful Hawthorn Berries Optional - these add a lovely red colour to the jelly.
Instructions
- Cut the crab apples in half, discarding any with inhabitants, or large amounts of damage.
- Slice the lemon, and ginger.
- Add 4 pints of water and all the ingredients bar the sugar and butter to the pan and simmer till the apples are soft. About 20-40 minutes.
- Strain though a jelly bag, don’t squeeze it or it will go cloudy. – The pulp left in the jelly bag can be pushed though a sieve and dried to make a fruit leather. Add sugar to taste for fruit leather.
- Leave for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- For every pint of juice extracted add 1lb of sugar.
- Warm the jars, either in an oven or by boiling.
- Return to the pan and stir over a gentle heat until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add a knob of butter (oil can be used to keep it vegan) this helps to reduce to scum forming on the top of the pan.
- Boil hard till the jelly reaches 104 deg C – the setting point for jams.
- Remove any scum that has formed.
- Jar, and screw lids on firmly whist still hot.
- Storage:Store in a cool dark place, for up to a year. It tends to dry and go slightly rubbery after this, but shouldn’t spoil. Once opened store in the fridge.
Notes
Storage:
Store in a cool dark place, for up to a year. It tends to dry and go slightly rubbery after this, but shouldn’t spoil. Once opened store in the fridge.
Store in a cool dark place, for up to a year. It tends to dry and go slightly rubbery after this, but shouldn’t spoil. Once opened store in the fridge.
Store in a cool dark place, for up to a year. It tends to dry and go slightly rubbery after this, but shouldn’t spoil. Once opened store in the fridge.
Store in a cool dark place, for up to a year. It tends to dry and go slightly rubbery after this, but shouldn’t spoil. Once opened store in the fridge.