Crab Apple Jelly or Crabanero Jelly
Simple crab apple jelly made with wild dolgo or wild red crab apples. Adding hot peppers is optional. Makes 4 cups or 4 half pint jars, or eight 4oz jelly jars.
Servings: 64 servings
Calories: 47kcal
Cost: 10
Equipment
- Canning Jars
- water bath canner
- 1 gallon or larger pot for cooking the jelly
- Metal plate or baking tin for doing set tests
- Large bowl of ice (optional)
Ingredients
Basic Apple Jelly
- 3 lbs dolgo crabapples or another pectin-rich crabapple
- 3 cups water
- 3 cups sugar
Hot pepper Jelly
- 2 habanero peppers seeded and finely chopped (optional)
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice or ¼ teaspoon citric acid
Instructions
Make the crabapple juice
- Wash the crabapples and combine with the water in a wide pot, such as a pasta pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn the heat down to low. Mash the apples, then cook for 10 minutes more on lowest possible heat.
- Pour the mixture into a colander lined with a two layers of cheesecloth and allow to drain and cool completely. Discard the skins and seeds or save to make homemade apple vinegar.
Cook the jelly
- Measure the crabapple liquid and mix with an equal amount of sugar by volume, which should be about 3 cups. If you have less than three cups, I recommend squeezing the bag to get extra juice. If making crab apple pepper jelly, add the chopped peppers now.
- Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until the temperature reaches 220F, doing set tests on a plate set over a bowl of ice. I like to use a metal pie pan as it transfers hot and cold almost immediately and will show you the results the fastest.
- When the edges of a drop of syrup threatens to hold its shape on the plate, (up to 225 F) it’s done, beat in the lemon juice and pour the mixture into clean jelly jars leaving ½ inch headspace.
Water Bath Canning the jelly
- Screw on the lids, transfer to a waterbath and process for 10 minutes, or as needed for your elevation and size of your jars. I like 4-8 oz jelly jars which make a great gift.
- Cool the jars, then store in a cool dark place, like a pantry.
Video
Notes
- To ensure a crystal clear jelly, don’t squeeze the cheesecloth. The seeds, skins and excess juice can be used to make fruit scrap vinegar, or put through a food mill to extract the sour-tasting pulp for cooking.
- For a fun variation, throw a small bundle of fresh mint into the apples halfway through cooking them with water.
- Use the pectin of the apples to help other low-pectin jellies set, like chokecherry jelly.
Nutrition
Serving: 1tablespoon | Calories: 47kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 0.1g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.01g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.002g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 23mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 11IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 0.03mg