There were a few specimen trees on our property when we arrived. They had been planted quickly before sale to make the place look a bit more appealing. 2 of them are crab apple trees. We moved them in their second year, digging out a good size hole for them & putting lots of donkey pooh under them. Our property had been a log yard so was very compressed by the trucks that had driven over it & any digging (even a bulb hole) had to be done by hubby with a heavy metal bar. These days, after years of mulch, I can dig the garden myself & the soil looks great. The worms have worked wonders.
Anyway, back to the crab apples… they are gorgeous trees with lovely blossom followed by pretty fruits that look good into winter when the wax eyes come & eat them. I usually just enjoy this cycle but this year a decided to make crabapple jelly. I bought a second hand copy of Alison Holst ‘Recipes To Remember’ from trade me this week &, as I flicked through it, I saw the recipe & thought ‘yes, I’ll try it this year’. What a great success. Im not a good jam maker. Most times its so hard we struggle to get it out of the jar but this jelly is perfection (if I do say so myself). It filled the house with a devine smell as it cooked too. 1.5kgs of crabapples which resulted in about 3 cups of jelly. I have plenty more on the tree to admire still but this year the wasps seem to be making a meal of them, as they do our orchard apples. Anyone with ideas on how to keep them away.. please share.
Here is how I made the Crabapple Jelly:
1.5kg washed crab apples, sliced in half then processed till fine in the food processor
Quickly tip into 5 cups of hot water & boil about 15 minutes until fruit is tender, stirring regularly
Pour through a sieve, roll & bang pulp to extract as much liquid as possible then discard pulp (I gave it to the chooks but they werent fussed)
Wash the sieve, cover it with 2 layers of a (clean) old tea towel & strain the juice, waiting for it to run through, do not squish or squeeze pulp.
Measure liquid & add 3/4 cup of sugar for each cup of juice.
Cook 20 minutes. The recipe said until a little sets on a plate but I’ve never mastered that trick so it was a guesstimate.
Sterilise jars & their lids by boiling in water. I recycle small or cute shaped jars that supermarket jams, pasta sauce, baby food etc have come in – they must have a screw top lid with rubbery stuff on the inside so they can reseal.
Pour the hot jelly syrup into the hot jars (lift them out of the boiling water with tongs & drain upside down quickly) then screw the lid on tightly. If you are lucky the centre of the lid with pop down as the contents cools & your jar will be sealed. If that doesnt happen keep jelly in the fridge.
Hi stony acres. I am just making crabapple jelly right now thanks to your post.
I read yesterday in the NZ Gardener magazine that if you rip comfrey leaves in half and place them by trunk of tree being raided by wasps, they leave as they don’t like the smell.
Good luck!
I dont know the crabapple variety Pri but Im sure any would be fine.
Great Recipe, Thanks. Can you advise which crabappleyou have used for this?
The most useful piece of this post, for me? “Cook 20 minutes. The recipe said until a little sets on a plate but I’ve never mastered that trick so it was a guesstimate.” I was going crazy trying to figure out whether it was ready! And now I’ve got wonderful jelly, thanks to your calming me down about it.
Fantastic recipe. Great to make in the holidays with the children. Each had a bucket & loved picking the crab apples.
Hiya thank you for this! i just made some now but i added 4 fejoias tastes delicious!!!
[…] used the same recipe I have for my crab apple jelly but used 50% crabapples & 50% sweet, late season, black […]
Thank you Teresa. No I hadnt found a solution to the wasps. I got so mad with them that I went out several days in a row with the fly spray but they just kept coming. In desperation we picked all the fruit as the wasps were becoming a concern amongst my chooks. I have lost chooks before when they’ve swallowed bees & its not a nice death for them.
I have comfrey so will definitely give that a go.. anything is worth a try! Good luck getting rid of your wasps too.
Hi Stoney Acres,
You may have already had an answer to your wasp problem, but in case you haven’t – I’ve just read a letter in the latest NZ Gardener from Marjorie in Palmerston North and she swears by Comfrey. She breaks comfrey leaves in half and puts them all around the base of her plants, then sits back and watches the wasps take off! I haven’t tried it myself yet because I don’t have any comfrey – but I hate wasps so guess what I’ll be buying at the garden centre tomorrow?!!
Cheers,
Teresa
Awesome! I’m heading outside now to pick those crabapples! Thankyou
Hi again thanks. Yes kind of took a bit to get used to ‘blogging’! I love it now. Obsessed some days haha!
Of course you are welcome to the recipe & good luck with your jelly. Also, thank you for letting me know you read my blog.. yes it is great to know Im not talking to myself
Wow thanks I just found your blog. I have been looking everywhere for a crab apple jelly recipe. I might just borrow it if you dont mind. Enjoyed your blog.
Yes indeed.. & the amount of sugar that must also be in each jar!
I have attempted to make jam a couple of times now and it always amazes me the quantity of fruit that goes into making a single jar!