On July 27, 2010, I wrote a piece called "The Hunter-Gatherer Gene." At the time I had been making crabapple jelly from crabapples gleaned from the KU campus. Here I am on June 27, 2012, doing the same thing, but a month earlier than in 2010. All this growing season everything has been a month ahead of its normal time.
Is it climate change? Is it La Nina? Who knows? All I know is that the crabapples are ripe, Dennis picked a big bucketful on campus and lugged them home. I was glad. Last year my wrists were in such bad shape I couldn't make jams and jellies. Now I can, thanks to a wonderful surgeon who fused my wrists.
Crabapple jelly is quite tart. Spread on a bit of toasted homemade bread or a hot biscuit it wakes the senses. It gets us moving.
Crabapple juice is loaded with natural pectin and, boiled with some sugar, makes a beautiful jelly that cooks is about five minutes. I've made three batches now, the apples are all gone, and I'm finished for this year. This photo was taken just before I made the last batch.
If you see Dennis on campus with a bucketful of crabapples, please tell him I said to give them to you.
Gather real crabapples, not the dinky little ornamental crabapples. Wash the apples and cut off the blossom and stem ends.
Put the trimmed apples in a big pot and, when it is nearly filled, add water to the top of the apples and bring it to a boil.
Turn the heat down and let the apples simmer for about 15 minutes. The skins will burst and the flesh will be quite soft.
While the apples are cooking, get out the colander and an old pillowcase. Put the pillowcase inside the colander and set the colander over a large bowl.
Pour the cooked apples into the pillowcase. Bunch up the pillowcase top on top of the colander.
Let the juice drain for an hour or so, longer if you like. While the juice is draining, sterilize pint or half-pint canning jars in boiling water for ten minutes. After the first five minutes, add the jar lids and rings.
Measure the juice. I usually cook no more than seven cups of juice at a time. Pour the measured juice into the biggest kettle you have. For each cup of juice add 3/4 cup of sugar. Add 1/2 teaspoon of butter or margarine to keep the juice from boiling over.
Bring the crabapple juice to a boil over high heat. Stir until the sugar has fully dissolved. Keep the juice boiling and check the consistency frequently by dipping a big spoon into the boiling juice and letting the juice run back into the pot. The jelly is done when two drops of juice run together off the edge of the spoon. The drops also will sag at the spoon edge before sliding off.
Fill the jars with hot jelly and seal. That's it. Clean up the mess.
If you have chickens, give them the remains of the apples. If not, compost them.
Each cooking of seven cups of juice made 3 1/2 pints of jelly for me. The amount may vary, depending on the juiciness of the fruit.
Is it climate change? Is it La Nina? Who knows? All I know is that the crabapples are ripe, Dennis picked a big bucketful on campus and lugged them home. I was glad. Last year my wrists were in such bad shape I couldn't make jams and jellies. Now I can, thanks to a wonderful surgeon who fused my wrists.
Crabapple jelly is quite tart. Spread on a bit of toasted homemade bread or a hot biscuit it wakes the senses. It gets us moving.
Crabapple juice is loaded with natural pectin and, boiled with some sugar, makes a beautiful jelly that cooks is about five minutes. I've made three batches now, the apples are all gone, and I'm finished for this year. This photo was taken just before I made the last batch.
If you see Dennis on campus with a bucketful of crabapples, please tell him I said to give them to you.
Crabapple Jelly
Put the trimmed apples in a big pot and, when it is nearly filled, add water to the top of the apples and bring it to a boil.
Turn the heat down and let the apples simmer for about 15 minutes. The skins will burst and the flesh will be quite soft.
While the apples are cooking, get out the colander and an old pillowcase. Put the pillowcase inside the colander and set the colander over a large bowl.
Pour the cooked apples into the pillowcase. Bunch up the pillowcase top on top of the colander.
Let the juice drain for an hour or so, longer if you like. While the juice is draining, sterilize pint or half-pint canning jars in boiling water for ten minutes. After the first five minutes, add the jar lids and rings.
Bring the crabapple juice to a boil over high heat. Stir until the sugar has fully dissolved. Keep the juice boiling and check the consistency frequently by dipping a big spoon into the boiling juice and letting the juice run back into the pot. The jelly is done when two drops of juice run together off the edge of the spoon. The drops also will sag at the spoon edge before sliding off.
Fill the jars with hot jelly and seal. That's it. Clean up the mess.
If you have chickens, give them the remains of the apples. If not, compost them.
Each cooking of seven cups of juice made 3 1/2 pints of jelly for me. The amount may vary, depending on the juiciness of the fruit.
2 comments:
Dennis has such nice hands!
The apples that Logan picked from your tree made them most wonderful applesauce and apple butter. Thank you for sharing with us. I was able to do some work in the kitchen last week with Oz's help. Thank goodness for helpful, loving husbands. xxoo
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