Crabby apples

Gorgeous spring flowering crabapple tree in the backyard, fills with pollinators! This year I decided we would use some instead of letting the wild birds take all of them.

Makes fruit in summer to harvest in fall! I bring in just a little a time and when there's at least eight cups, I process them.

The initial plan was for crabapple jelly following what I saw here: https://youtu.be/1_HmKArR1D4

• Removed leaves.

• Tried removing stems -ow! Stopped.

• Weighed out the amount to adjust the recipe amounts.

• Added equal parts water to the apples.

• Cooked them down till soft, mashed them.

• Added the mash to a cheesecloth.

• Wrapped and hung cheesecloth bag to drain out juices.

But after hanging several hours and squeezing the bag a LOT, there was only about a cup of juice. So I ran it all through the apple mill which removed stems, skins and seeds. Mixed it into the juice. Added sugar and got to a boil. Labeled into jelly jars and water bath canned.

Next time I think I'll need to add more water to the mix - if I want more juice for the jelly! Also, I won't mash them after cooking and I'll follow a recipe to the T!

Foraging crabapples and what to do with them https://youtu.be/Lz7y27cu3qs

How to tell if they're ripe and crabapple jelly https://youtu.be/1ga2WJvbTqY