Apples are coming on....

[eye2dry]

hello to all

I am super happy and super excited by our bumper crop of apples this year.

We have no idea what type of apple tree it is or the age if it...was here when we moved in 9 years ago.

We never prune or spray the tree.

I am making apple pies today...the apples are ready.


Question for you.....

I made apple jelly a few years ago, my grandma always did.

My apple jelly was too stiff and too cloudy looking.

What did I do wrong?

I am more familiar with making my own grape jelly.


thanks,
eye2dry

[slccom]

I end up making ice cream topping. Sugar is so expensive, I usually can't bring myself to put all needed for jelly in, so it is kind of runny. Ice cream topping!

Sharon

[SjoAmy]

APPLE CIDER!!!! Bring it on!!!!!   hot or cold......love it all!

[slccom]

Fermented or not?
Sharon

[SjoAmy]

I never paid attention to if it was fermented or not.    Type of apples used, yes.   I'm not that picky about cider.....it is just good.

[irish]

I haven't made jelly for a long time. I would guess that you could have cooked it too long or maybe too much sugar. Sometimes it works well to just cook it and keep putting a drop of the jelly in a little bowl of cold water. This helps it to set up and you get an idea as too how thick/set it is going to get. Of course, the cookbooks may say to use a candy thermometer, but that would be to sensible for me.lol

Every apply crop has a different amount of pectin and that can affect the "thickness" of the jelly also. Good luck. Irish

[Linda196]

I've also found that the thicker the cheese cloth bag (more layers) and the slower it drips through, the clearer it is.

I really wish I'd had the sense to retrieve the cast iron hook my Grandmother had over the corner counter in her kitchen that she hung her jelly bags from. As with most hand crafted items from the turn of the last century, it was decorative as well as practical, and meant to last. It also doubled as a taffy pulling hook, on the odd occasion when she didn't have enough little hands to help out.

I gave up on jellies long ago, too fussy for me when I was working, too labour intensive now, but apple butter is a pretty good substitute.

[eye2dry]

thank you for the replies. I will use your knowledge on this batch.

I am going to attempt it next week...apple jelly.


also another thing I plan to do with all those apples.

my MIL peels and slices up apples and freezes them in baggies.

she always makes "farm breakfast" for themselves and company......

homemade biscuits

sausage

sausage gravy

eggs

fried potatoes

fried apples


it's a southern thing.....a barn buster breakfast.


now, is anyone hungry??


eye2dry

[slccom]

I'll come! When are you serving?
Sharon

[SjoAmy]

Me too!  I love a Southern breakfast!  Can we have scrapple too?

[slccom]

Nine years near Philly and I managed to avoid ever trying Scrapple.

Sharon

[Velcro]

It's a Southern thing...Ha ha ha.

I still have great childhood memories of Grandma cutting up all the apples from the green apple tree in the backyard, and me having to climb up on the tin-roofed garden shed and spread them out on white sheets to dry!  I would have to climb up every day and flip them all over until they were dried.  Best fried apple pies ever!  Do you know how hot a tin roof gets during the summer!

[star723]

My tree is just about but not quite ready~  I love anything to do with Apples! pie~ first on the list!   Love fried apples as well.  one of my new recipes is to take the core out stick some butter and brown sugar in it, wrap the apple with a biscuit then roll the whole in sugar and Cinnamon ~ bake it. WoW is it good. 

[SjoAmy]

I do believe I am drooling!   

Anyone got a napkin ? 

[4Kids]

Love apples!

Cloudy jelly comes from pressing on the bag too much. It doesn't affect the taste at all.

I put my cut up apples in the pot and cover with water. While it's boiling, I mash out the apples then  I put it through a colander. Then I let that set for a while and then I pour off what I need. Unbelieveably, I get clear jelly. I don't use pectin, I just use the sugar method and cook until the jelly point is reached.  A thermometer is really awesome for this as it gives you a better idea. Otherwise you can tip your spoon and watch the drops coming together but generally mine was a bit too hard.  Too stiff just means you cooked it a shade too long. I think 25 minutes is about what it takes here but it is crabapples so they are really high in pectin.

Then you can use the remaining pulp/sauce to make apple butter, apple sauce, fruit leather, freeze it and bake with it, lots of stuff.

I do so much like that, and cut up and freeze the rest and make apple crisps and pies for the rest of the year. Mostly crisps.  Cause I get lazy.