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Contents: 1. Intro
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1. Intro Making preserves, jams and jellies from wild fruit, such as wild Red Crabapples in this tutorial, is a fun activity. Kids love it. Finally, getting something for nothing appeals to almost everyone and knowing that makes the product you preserved even more satisfying. You should read the entire tutorial and review the photos to get a good idea of what is involved and how to begin. Making jelly is more time consuming than it is difficult so set aside a bit of time and don't rush it. Red Crabapples are 'in abundance' in my area, southwestern Pennsylvania, around the end of September. Plenty of free jelly making essentials out in the suburbs. All you need is a bag or basket. 2. Materials About five pounds of wild Red Crabapples. Put them in a bowl of fresh water and wash them briefly.
3. Kitchen Equipment A couple of large bowls, Procedure Take the crabapples from the wash water bowl leaving the water behind and put them in a pot of fresh HOT water.
After a few minutes of mixing and agitation start to segregate the real nice looking, unblemished ones and throw out the ones that don't look appealing. You do want a few that are a bit unripe but not too many. Crabapples are naturally high in pectin content anyway. This is the last time consuming part and yet it only will take about 10 minutes, if you are real picky - like I am. Don't worry about stems, seeds, skin or other detritus. The strainer and muslin will take care of all that. When you think you have sorted enough weigh them. You want to have about 2 pounds 12 ounces.( see the heading photo above)
After you get the correct amount of apples weighed out put them all in another pot ( stainless or glass ) of fresh water, just enough water to barely cover the apples. It should look something like the picture below. | ||||||
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All the apples added to a new pot of water. |
Bring the water up to a boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer.
Let the apples simmer, just below boiling, until they look like they will mash up good. Don't rush it.
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A batch of simmered crabapples almost ready to mash. |
Use the potato masher while the apples are still simmering in the pot. Mash as good as you can. The better you mash them the easier the juice will be liberated.
This is the stage you want to get to. When you think you have them mashed as good as humanly possible - let them simmer a few more minutes and then mash them some more.
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A batch of crabapples all mashed up and ready for straining. |
Now that the apples are all mashed up use the fine meshed kitchen strainer/colander to do the initial work of getting rid of all the bigger pieces such as stems, seeds, and other odd bits.
After the colander part is done let the juice filter through the muslin bag or a clean piece of sheet or pillowcase.
The sheet piece or pillowcase should be wetted and wrung out before use. It strains better, that is, filters more effectively when wet.
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Fresh crabapple juice, strained through muslin and ready for the pot. |
This is the juice ready for making the jelly. When you have it all gathered get out the measuring cup.
For each cup of juice you will need approximately 2/3 cup of sugar.( it's approximate because it will depend on the tartness of the apples and individual taste preferences. )
Once all measured add the juice back to the cleaned out stainless steel pot, add the required amount of sugar and simmer on medium heat.
Simmer and stir.
Simmer and stir.
Simmer and stir.
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A pot of crabapple juice almost at the 'jell' point. |
Eventually it will get to the point that it starts to jell.
When you see that it is getting thicker and thicker it's time to start doing the spoon test every few minutes.
Use the spatula to put a bit of the juice on a spoon. Move the spoon away from the heat then tilt the spoon back and forth ever so slowly to see if the juice is starting to leave little ripples of jell.
You DO NOT want to use a hot spoon each time you sample the juice for jell testing. You want a cold spoon, or at least room temperature.
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Here is the spoon test. |
When you finally believe that the juice is ready to jell, put some juice on the spoon, let it run off so there is just a layer all over the spoon and set the spoon aside.
Watch the juice on the spoon, it will puddle in the depression. When the puddle starts to jell reasonably quick,the juice is ready to be put in the jars.
There's also a jell test you can do using alcohol.
Fill HOT jars to within 1/4 inch of top, screw on lids and caps - handtight and set away from the stove and wait for the pops.
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Ten jars of half-pints from the batch of crabapples. |
Here is the finished product with label applied.
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Here is a finished jar of silysavg's Wild Red Crabapple jelly. |
Wild Red Crabapple Jelly
That would be near mid September to October. Click naturespickings or on that link from other pages on my site to check on availability.
Feel free to copy the information for your own use.
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