not far from the tree

Twelve eager preservers arrived at The Stop’s kitchen at the Wychwood Barns last Tuesday with dreams of crabapple jelly in their heads. They came armed with peelers and glass jars, small and large. Our mission – to take about 10 lbs of raw crabapples and create a marvelous jelly of deliciousness. Luckily, we had on hand several jelly-making pros. Special thanks must go out to Pam Bonnycastle for her knowledge, skill, snacks, and her totally cool jelly bag!  So crabapple jelly making. Sounds complicated? Not so much, in fact.

Having been washed and sliced, the crabapples were ready for some cooking after which they were strained through a jelly bag or a cheesecloth. Some people, we were told, strain the fruit overnight.. We had considerably less time and were ecstatic to have a few litres of juice after an hour, so we squeezed the bag a bunch of times to hurry things up (a practice that is somewhat frowned upon by jelly-making purists who like their jelly to run clear).

While we waited for the crabapples to strain, we had over 50 lbs of red delicious apples to peel, core, slice and cook. But our team was up for the challenge. The result was delicious applesauce!

Yum! So, back to the crabapple jelly. After an hour of straining, the crabapple juice that remained was brought back to the stove and sugar was added. Within 15 minutes, the first jars were filled with the most gorgeous colour of sunset red jelly.

The kitchen was quickly filled with a lovely fragrant scent. Having worked very hard over the evening, participants were deservedly rewarded with jars of apple sauce and crabapple jelly to take home. As we parted ways, we vowed to make preserving a more regular event in Ward 21. Next year, we’ll start with cherries!

Tags: jelly preserving apples crabapples "Ward 21"