When I was a tween or about 13 years old my parents built a house out in the country. My father landscaped the new property. One of his plantings was a row of crabapple trees along the Waddell Road. I pass their old property on my way to see my daughter and her family. I stopped and asked the new owners of the house if I could help myself to some to the apples that my father planted over forty years ago. She said I could have what ever I wanted, but that there was also someone interested in making cider with them.
When I was in my thirties I would and my parents still lived there I would make crabapple jelly. I was a bit of a chicken and used the sure jell added pectin method, partly because i was afraid of boiling sugar to the jelly stage but also to stretch the recipe into more jars of jelly. Now, this year I just boiled the juice (that i extracted by drip through cheese cloth method) with sugar and let the natural pectin do its work.
I have made two batches of jelly. One batch is set a little firmer than I would have liked. I also made some slow cooker chutney and a crabapple pie. With the chutney I did not core the apples as it seemed to tedious but I noticed a few sharp pieces of core in the final product. When I made the pie I cored the little apples.
When I made the chutney i followed a recipe for apple chutney from the JOy of cooking. In making the pie I altered a recipe that I found on the internet.
When I was in my thirties I would and my parents still lived there I would make crabapple jelly. I was a bit of a chicken and used the sure jell added pectin method, partly because i was afraid of boiling sugar to the jelly stage but also to stretch the recipe into more jars of jelly. Now, this year I just boiled the juice (that i extracted by drip through cheese cloth method) with sugar and let the natural pectin do its work.
I have made two batches of jelly. One batch is set a little firmer than I would have liked. I also made some slow cooker chutney and a crabapple pie. With the chutney I did not core the apples as it seemed to tedious but I noticed a few sharp pieces of core in the final product. When I made the pie I cored the little apples.
When I made the chutney i followed a recipe for apple chutney from the JOy of cooking. In making the pie I altered a recipe that I found on the internet.
This pie has raisins soaked in amaretto and ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. The flavor is an explosion of sweet tart and spices. The top crust is gluten free improvise and the bottom crust was a store bought crust!
My father passed away five years ago next month. I guess I am doing all this crabapple creating in honor of his memory. He was a big fan of crabapples.
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