I sent the children up the garden wall to collect the last remaining crabapples as this year I was determined to make crabapple jelly. I must confess to not having realised just how many crabapples it would take to fill a container!
Up close, crab apples really are remarkably like miniature apples, and the older ones have a very apple-like odour once they're cut in half.
I washed and de-stalked the crabapples, which took quite a while as the stalks were determined to stay on. I also chopped several of them in half to check for worms or rotten spots - it was hard to tell from the outside with some of them, though by the end of the batch I was getting pretty good at predicting the bad ones.
The apples were boiled for an hour, by which stage they were very soft and the house smelt delicious. I strained them once through a colander, then again through a doubled over teatowel (that had been boiled up with the jars).
There were 6 1/2 cups of crabapple juice left after straining. I returned them to the pot with 6 1/2 cups of sugar and boiled until setting point. Sadly, it's been a while since I made a soft jam, and I underestimated the setting point. I've ended up with a jelly that tastes and looks gorgeous, but is quite runny.
So, the children are just going to have to climb the crabapple tree again for me...
3 comments:
OOh I love runny jam, especially crabapple! Looking forward to trying it after 5 more sleeps!XXXX
Runny jam still works on toast and little pancakes. I'm glad you finally found a great use for all those crab-apples!
K, go and get a packet of jam setter if you really want to save this batch of jam.
Bring jam back to the boil, add jam setter according to directions, then bottle in resteralised bottles etc.
Although apple and hazelnut flavour yoghourt works for me...
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