Spiced Crabapple Jelly
I’m pretty sure this is the most beautiful jelly I’ve ever seen. And there’s a story behind it.
Our besties next door, Linda and Bill, found two apple trees locally and weren’t sure what type they were. They brought home a few and asked us to try them.The flesh inside was a beautiful red and creamy white, but they were not an eating apple, like a red delicious.
They were too bitter.
A little Google research revealed this was one of dozens of types of crabapples. Bill and Linda picked some for us, and I made a batch of jelly, using Mom’s apple jelly recipe.
The apples yielded a deep pink juice that turns the color of red wine when you cook it and add pectin and sugar. Making this jelly can only be described as pure pleasure. I simply couldn’t take my eyes off it as it heated.
The first small batch was delicious—light and not too sweet, as I remember from eating crabapple jelly somewhere when I was younger.
We thought that small batch would be all we’d get to make, until a month later Bill discovered that the trees were loaded with fruit, each apple much bigger than what we used for the first batch.
So Jimmy and I decided to forage after hours. The two trees were located on the grounds of a local business. No one seemed to mind when we pulled up in the truck and started picking crabapples.
Then the company’s maintenance director showed up and we thought, well that’s it. Instead, he offered to shake the tree for us. So he shook away—four times. We rode out of there with our truck bed loaded with beautiful red crabapples.
Needless to say, I was busy over the next two weeks making what I believe is one of our best jellies of the year. We spiced each further batch of crabapple jelly with whole cloves and cinnamon sticks. It has a light pink color when spread and a nicely spicy taste.
I hope you enjoy this jelly that let us research, forage and enjoy creating something truly beautiful.