Crab apple jelly recipe & American conversion

Sigma Force

Have the recipe but it says use 8 cups of chopped crab apples..what's that converted to grammes?

Has anyone added something else to their crab apple jelly to give it an extra kick any suggestions?

kathleenl

8 Cups of crab apples = 4lbs
http://www.ez-calculators.com/measurement-conversion-calculator.htm

Apple Jelly or Crab Apple Jelly

4lb of Apples
4pts of water

Method

Wash apples or crab apples let them drain dry. Cut into quarters, no need to top and tail. Put them in to a large saucepan pour in the four pints of water. Add cloves about 20 for a nice flavour. Bring to the boil for 20 mins. Lowern heat and let them simmer for an hour.

Get two chairs, turn one upside down on the other.
Clean the legs just in case any dust or dirt would get into the juice by accident.
Tie a cloth to the four legs leave a dip in the middle. Make sure you secure the cloth well.
Get a basin and place under the cloth.
Once your apples are well cooked. Pour the contents into the cloth, the juice that comes out should be a pale pink in colour.
Leave for an hour or until all the juice is gone from the pulp.
Lift off the cloth and squeeze gently in case there is more juice. DO NOT SQUEESE TO GET PULP.
Clean your big saucepan and make sure there is no residue of your stewed apples in the base.
Get a measuring jug and measure the juice into the saucepan.

For every pint of juice use 1lb of Sugar. i.e. if you have 3 and 3/4 pints of juice then you need 3 and 3/4 lbs of sugar.
Bring it to the boil for 20 mins then lowern a small bit. a scum should be forming on top of the juice and it should be changing colour from the pale pink to a red colour.

Let it cook for an hour or hour and a half. once the hour is up test the juice with a spoon and let a little drop fall onto a cold surface and see if it sets after a couple of minutes. Make sure you take off any scum that forms on the mixture.

Your jam pots should have been washed the night before or before you start making the jelly. While you have been making the jelly the jam pots should be baking in the oven. This is to kill any bacteria that would be in the jars.

When the jelly is done, pour it into the pots. Seal straight away with jampot covers or clean lids. If you are using lids you will hear them pop after about 40 mins, this will tell you that the jelly is ready for storage.
Enjoy!!

olaola

I decided to make this, and I took all the apples of my small tree, and I have at least 16lbs of crab apples!!!
I'm not going to be able to use all of them, do you know if they freeze well?
Or does anyone want some!?

catho_monster

Quick question - do you really need to let the apples drain dry if your just going to put them into water?

olaola

catho_monster wrote: »

Quick question - do you really need to let the apples drain dry if your just going to put them into water?

I thought the same thing last night and I just lashed it all into the pot. Maybe let them dry a bit before you cut them (if you're going to cut them) as they might be a bit slippery? That's the only reason we could think of!

olaola

OH! Another Q - how many cloves do you think I need per 4lb of jelly?

kathleenl

You can freeze them but its a bit messy.
Preparing for Freezing: Wash, peel, core and cut apples into quarters for freezing. Approximately 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds of sliced quartered apples fills one pint, and approximately 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of slices or quarters fills 1 quart.

kathleenl

catho_monster wrote: »

Quick question - do you really need to let the apples drain dry if your just going to put them into water?

You dont need to let them drain when you have just washed them just get a clean towel and keep if for this purpose. Wipe the apples dry before you cut them into quarters. once you have your apples cut and weighed put them into a clean dry saucepan. for every pound of apples add a pint of water. That is the only water that should be in your saucepan other wise you will get what i got last week.... very light jelly. Still had the flavour but not the consistency.

kathleenl

olaola wrote: »

OH! Another Q - how many cloves do you think I need per 4lb of jelly?

When i was making the jelly i had 5lb of apples 5 pints of water and 15 cloves. You have to remember its whole cloves you are using and they can be very strong. Make sure you mix them well with the apples and water. You will have to stir the mix ocasionally so that it dosent stick to the bottom of the saucepan.

kathleenl

olaola wrote: »

OH! Another Q - how many cloves do you think I need per 4lb of jelly?

If you let your apples cook for the hour even an hour and a half they will be better. For 4lb of apples i'd use 9-10 cloves it depends on your taste. Some people dont use cloves they use ginger or Cinnamon for flavouring. Your jelly should be a nice red colour like this.

kathleenl

kathleenl wrote: »

If you let your apples cook for the hour even an hour and a half they will be better. For 4lb of apples i'd use 9-10 cloves it depends on your taste. Some people dont use cloves they use ginger or Cinnamon for flavouring. Your jelly should be a nice red colour like this.

http://figjamandlimecordial.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/apple-jelly-and-slab-pizza-001.jpg?w=306&h=269

This is the colour of the liquid once the apples have been draining for the hour or so. There is nothing wrong with the colour and texture.

The last lot of jelly i made were this colour and the texture was too light. I wanst happy with it.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XSkqEyV6_Vk/SQdMF1jfI4I/AAAAAAAAAp0/kRtA5pkbXCs/s400/scrap+apple.jpg

olaola

Ok so, made the first batch of jam last night. And I made the juice for the second batch.

I didn't cut up the second batch, just boiled them whole. Same result it seems!
The first jams look great - a really nice dark colour. Set really quickly too!

NOW I have one last Q! (I promise ) Do I really have to leave the mash to drain overnight? I seem to get 99% of the juice from the muslin after an hour of draining.

kathleenl

No, I didn't with mine. I wouldn't have the patience for that. The way I figure it is, if you boil the apples earlier in the day and leave to drain for about 2 hours depending on the quantity you have cooked then you should be alright. When you take the it down from draining just squeeze the cloath a little tighter just to see if any juice comes out, other than that your all set, and your compost heap has a new added ingredient.:)
Not cutting the apples is not a great idea. I know its time saving but its better to cut them as the pectin is released quicker into the juice. If you leave them whole then you might end up with weaker jelly. If you want to change the flavour a little you can add bramble berries or black berries we call them.
It can give them a darker red colour and a mixed favour. Also, I was told lately that if you dont want your jelly too sweet then you can take back some sugar and add the juice of a lemon. I dont know about this i dont think it would be as nice and the origional recipe.

You can ask me as many questions as you like, i dont mind.:)

olaola

Well here is the motherload!!



I found the apples broke open just after the water started to boil, so I just gave cutting them a miss. Not sure if they set as well, but I didn't put as much sugar in either as I like them quite tart. Great colours though. Red in the jar, luminous pink on your scone!

I hope my friends like crab apple jelly…

kathleenl

Congratulations.... you have a great supply. But the worst thing about this jelly is that it goes in no lenght of time. If you give a jar of this to your friends they will probably be back looking for more. I use bolognese sause jars and beetroot jars for my jelly. Big jars and they keep longer. (also dont have to share).

I make my own brown bread and my daughter Katie says that it is addictive with the jelly.