Year after year, the branches of our two crab apple trees hang low with fruit by the end of summer. And year after year, I watch as the apples shrivel up and die on the trees as we head into winter.
So this year, I decided to try my hand at making crab apple jelly. Spoiler alert: It was DELICIOUS!
Now full disclosure, I'm not a seasoned canner.
I have tried making raspberry jam and mint jelly using the traditional water bath method in the past, but it's not something I do regularly.
So finding a "refrigerator" recipe was what I was interested in. Refrigerator jellies skip the whole water bath process and instead are refrigerated (or frozen) once they're finished.
One nice thing about crab apples (and most apples in general) is their high pectin content, so you don't even need to add pectin to get your jelly to gel! What could be easier?
After reading through a bunch of recipes, I realized they were all pretty much the same, so I settled on one and headed out to pick some crab apples!
I spent the afternoon making the jelly, and while the recipe that claimed to make 2 pints only yielded me one pint, it was delicious!
But one thing none of the recipes I read through mentioned was just. how. long. it takes to chop 8 cups of crab apples. That was honestly the hardest thing about the recipe.
It took me the better part of two hours to chop them all.So set aside an afternoon to make this jelly.
I added a cinnamon stick and vanilla bean to a standard crab apple jelly recipe.... just because.
Easy Refrigerator Spiced Vanilla Crab Apple Jelly
Cut off the stems and blossom ends of the apples and chop into several pieces, leaving the core and seeds intact.
(Note: apple seeds contain small amounts of cyanide which isn't a problem unless you eat TONS of them, but just to be safe, I wanted the seeds to be safely enclosed in their coverings/cores while my jelly was cooking, so I cut off the flesh around the core instead of cutting through the core).
Place the cut apple pieces into a pot or deep saucepan with the cinnamon stick and vanilla bean and just cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the apples for 10 minutes.
Lay a piece of cheesecloth in a colander and strain the liquid into a bowl. You should have about 2 cups of liquid.
Discard the apple solids and pour the liquid back into the pot. Heat to a simmer and cook for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Next, stir in the sugar and continue cooking and stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Using a candy thermometer, bring the liquid to 220 degrees F.
Remove from the heat and pour the jelly into a clean pint glass Mason jar, leaving at least 1/2 inch head room at the top.
Screw on the lid and let cool on the counter. Refrigerate.
Your jelly should be okay in the fridge for about 3 weeks, but can be frozen as well to last longer.
Now I'm wishing I had poured it into two half pint jars and frozen one.... Oh well, I guess we'll have to eat this pint fairly quickly!
