For decades, my grandmother had a crab apple tree, and each summer she would make jelly. It is the best jelly in the world, and she would give me one jar each year. I looked forward to it.
When my grandma moved into a nursing home, my uncle cut down the tree. It is difficult to find crab apples anymore (that aren't purely decorative), but I found some trees near my workplace, and got permission to pick.
About 16 pounds' worth:
Ringo thought it was fun to play in the tote with the apples!
If you've never made jelly, it's a labor intensive process. First you, sort the fruit and cut out bad spots. Then boil them up and strain the juice overnight.
Then you boil the juice with sugar.
Sixteen pounds of fruit made 11 1/2 pints of jelly. I also made two loaves of bread.
Unlike some things in childhood, this jelly IS as good as I remember. And I now can appreciate the time and effort Grandma put into making it.
6 comments:
Love it!
Fantastic. I remember those apples very well. I am born and raised in Middleton/Madison, Wisconsin and we had a crab apple tree in the front yard, plus a couple of mulberry trees in the backyard. Lots of jelly/jam and so many wonderful memories in the kitchen. My mother-in-law was also a jam/jelly maker and she made some awesome stuff. I never got close to her expertise.
I really love your blog because everything you talk about, write about, even your photos remind me of home.
My West Coast, big-city human has never had crab apple jelly. She has never even seen a crab apple! Which is too bad because they look REALLY fun to play with!
We know you couldn't have made all that jelly without the great help of Ringo!
My hubby's cousin brought us some of those jelly apples and I am going to make the same jelly today- I LOVE the color. My hubby is going to try to make some wine too.
i so am going to have to track down some crab apple jelly
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