Apple Jelly

Mini disasters help you learn. I've certainly learned a lot from making apple jelly. Having not had much previous experience in the preserving world, I thought I would venture into making jelly.  I used the last of my locally picked apples, bought the necessary straining bags,  liquid Certo, and was on my way... to those mini disasters.

My pot was not quite as big as it should have been. Which lead to sticky jam boiling over onto my oven. Thankfully, not much juice was lost - and only tatters of my sanity. I dream of owning a Le Creuset set someday.

All was going smoothly and the jelly turned out relatively clear and a beautiful light rose hue.  However, after 24 hours of letting my jam "sit and settle" it was still like water. I was extremely disheartened.  A couple days of moping and occasionally shaking a bottle to see if it had set passed.

After a few days it seemed to set a little more - although it was still a little runny for my liking.  Apple jelly is a little tricky.  In any case, my answer to apple butter and salsa were easier to make as seen in my previous postings! I share all this not to scare you away from trying jelly - but just to let you know it's "finicky" and a little more tedious. So I would not introduce yourself to bottling with jelly, but warm up with some simple jams first!

Apple Jelly

Taken from Certo - www.kraftcanada.com

Yield: 8 cups

Ingredients:

Juice:
3 quarts (or 12 cups) of tart, juicy apples
6 1/2 cups of water

Jelly:
5 cups of prepared juice
2 TBSP lemon juice
7 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 pouch CERTO Liquid Pectin

Materials:
Jelly Bag (see picture)
Preserving materials - bottles, etc. (see previous post from Apple Butter Recipe for more specific instructions on bottling)

Directions:

1. Remove blossom and stem ends from 3 quarts of apples, cut in small pieces (do not peel or core). Add 6 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, 10 minutes.

2. Crush pulp and simmer, covered 5 minutes more.

3. Extract juice:
a) Place prepared fruit in a jelly bag.
b) Place jelly bag in a colander over a bowl and let the juices drip - do not squeeze the bag as it will make your jelly cloudy!
c) If after your juice has been fully drained from the jelly bag - if there is insufficient juice you may need to add up to 1/2 water.

4. Pour 5 cups of prepared juice in a large saucepan (please use a LARGE one - and avoid boil over insanity) and stir in sugar and lemon juice.  Bring to a boil over high heat.

5. Boil hard for 1 minute.

6. Remove from heat and stir in CERTO Liquid Pectin.

7. Stir and skim for 5 minutes. Skimming is simply taking off the the thick layer of jelly that will form at the surface. Simply discard. To see if your jam is done use a metal spoon and dip it into the jelly mixture.  Take the spoon out and out of the steam and turn it sideways so the liquid runs off the side.  If the jelly is done, the mixture should be syrupy and form two drops that flow together and form a sheet that hangs off the edge of the spoon.

8.  Pour into warm sterilized jars (see process in Apple Butter recipe) to 1/4 inch from rim. Cover with lids and screw rings on tightly.

 These made great Christmas presents this year!  I did save a few for myself.

Bottled Salsa

I love farms. I found myself last Sunday driving back to the orchard to get a cart of fresh tomatoes.  I stocked up with about 20 pounds of tomatoes and drove home with a smile on my face.  I reminded myself that I would I need to get cooking or my fridge was going to run out of room! Don't forget, my fridge is still full of apples, although they are beginning to dwindle.

What was my plan? I have always wanted to bottle salsa but never really had the nerve to try it out. Making and bottling salsa was totally worth it.  I'm thinking about trying some different types of salsa! I’ll keep you updated! Something tells me I'll also be stocking up on my nacho chips.

Please don’t be afraid to try this if you’re new to bottling! If I haven’t explained something well enough, don’t hesitate to leave a comment and ask. Also, Youtube is a wonderful resource for “how to” kinds of stuff. I will admit that it takes about a half hour to prep the tomatoes – so make sure you are not pressed for time.

Bottled Salsa

Makes approximately 1500 ml or 6 250ml bottles. Adapted from "Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving" (2010).

Ingredients:

7 cups chopped tomatoes (see note for directions before you start chopping!) I had about 13 tomatoes to get this.

2 cups coarsely chopped white onions It's important not to chop things too finely or it will get mushy later. 

5 jalapeno peppers

3 cloves of pressed garlic

1 can tomato paste

¾ cup white vinegar

½ cup chopped cilantro

½ tsp ground cumin

Directions:

Blanch tomatoes. Take a large pot and set to boil. Prepare a large bowl of cold water and set next to your stovetop.  You will need a strainer or something to hook the tomato out of the water. Here’s what you do:

a.     Cut a small x in the bottom of the tomato (see photo)

Make your X!

b.     Drop tomato in the boiling water for 10 seconds making sure it’s fully submerged

c.      Take the tomato out of the boiling water and submerge in the cold water

d.     Remove the tomato and you should be able to slide the skin off with ease – you may also use a knife to peel if it doesn’t want to slide off easily. Remember to be careful – those tomatoes are super slippery and slimy once the skin comes off!

e.     Only blanch one tomato at a time

Peel, seed and coarsely chop tomatoes.

Wearing rubber gloves (don’t avoid this or you will have burning skin, eyes, or anything else you may accidently scratch!) remove seeds and finely chop jalapenos.

Combine tomatoes, onions, jalapeno, garlic, tomato paste, vinegar, cilantro, and cumin in a large stainless steel saucepan.

Bring to a boil; boil gently stirring occasionally, until salsa reaches desired consistency, about 30 minutes.

Tomato Blanching Station

When you are boiling this on the stovetop, don’t be discouraged if it appears watery. Let it boil for the allotted time – and don’t forget to stir so it doesn’t burn on.  By the end, it ended up being a great consistency.

For bottling, I used the same sanitation technique as the Apple Butter.  Wash, rinse, and put in the oven on a cookie sheet at 300 for about 20 minutes.

Ladle hot salsa into hot jars within ½ inch from rim.  (see Apple Butter section for more details about bottling).

Once all bottles are sealed. Place in large canner pot. Water should completely cover the bottles. Bring the pot to a steady boil for about 30 minutes.

Remove bottles with the bottle gripper and place right-side up and let set for 24 hours.  Store in a cool, dark place.

I was worried that this wouldn’t turn out. I’ve made fresh salsa in the past but didn’t know what bottled would look like. It has more of a smooth than chunky texture. Here are some of the photos from the bottling process.

If you would like to know a Fresh Salsa recipe in addition to the bottling recipe - leave a comment! :) 

 

Apple Butter

Apple picking at the orchard last week.

It's that time of year again when shorts go on sale, the kids are back to school, and redheads are in style and on the cover of every fall issue.  If you’re not careful you may, like many people, overlook the fact that beside your favorite variety of apples showing up at the grocery store, there are thousands of fresh apples hanging and just waiting to be picked at the orchard down the road. 

It’s been a yearly tradition to head to the farm with bags tucked under the arm and hands extended practicing the perfect twist-picking technique.  A smiling gapped-tooth farmer reminded us to go for the bright ones at the top – but not too near to the top as they’re the ones that get a little scorched.

With sage advice and enthusiasm we took to the fields and picked our 20 pounds of apples in no time.  

But what do you do with TWENTY pounds of apples?

You use them for cooking, baking, preserving, feeding the deer, and for a personal snack.  I’ve been adding to my apple recipes every year and  hope to make several new items this fall.  And if you’re wondering if more apple recipes will show up - the answer is of course!

What’s on the recipe list today?


I’ve decided to make a batch of APPLE BUTTER.  As a new venture into solo preserving (I’d always had the help of much wiser family members!) I thought I should tread lightly into a simple slow cooker recipe to get the hang of bottling and not do too many things at once.  

I did some extensive research on the internet for making apple butter and found a recipe from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/all-day-apple-butter/detail.aspx that I adapted. You will need a few kitchen tools to make this process a smooth one.

Tools you will need:

Slow cooker

Slap-chop like device

Apple peeler

Apple corer

Bottles (I chose to use mostly 250 ml simply to use as gifts later) enough to hold approximately 3.5 L.

Preserving tool kit – see photo!

What kind of apples to use?

I used Gala apples. You want something with a little sweetness to add a rich flavor to the batch. With this is mind – I didn’t want something sickly sweet so I cut my sugar in half of what the original recipe called for.  I’ve changed the amounts to what I found to be successful (and delicious!) below. Also, as a bonus, your house will smell of apples and cinnamon!

Apple Butter Recipe

Prep Time: Approximately 11 hours (don’t worry only about an hour of that is you getting things ready!)

Ingredients:

5 ½  pounds apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

¼  tsp ground cloves

¼  tsp salt

¼ tsp allspice

Directions:

Peel, core, and finely chop apples (this is the most laborious part I promise!)

Place the apples in a slow cooker.

In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and salt.

Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix well.

Cover and cook on high 1 hour.

Reduce heat to low and cook 9 to 11 hours, stirring occasionally (I stirred it every hour or two) until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.

Uncover and continue cooking on low 1 hour. Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness. Spoon the mixture into sterile containers.

If you’ve never preserved anything before – it’s a little bit to get used to. Here’s what I did to prepare the bottles.

Bottle Preparation:

Wash and rinse the bottles in warm sudsy water.

Remove lids and rims and place to one side.

Dry jars and place on a cookie sheet.

Preheat oven to 300.

Place jars in oven for 10 minutes to sterilize.

Carefully remove jars and have them ready and hot for hot apple butter that will be placed in the jars. Don’t put hot butter into cold jars!

On a burner, in a medium saucepan with water just covering the snap lids, simmer (do not boil!).

There is a nice insulated gripper in that tool kit to grab the jars so you don’t burn yourself. Use with care!

Use the funnel to pour apple butter to about a ¼ inch from the top. Use the measuring stick from the preserving tool kit. Then place the other end directly in the middle of the butter to remove any air bubbles.

Make sure there’s no sticky jam around the top – if so wipe off. Then place the snap lid onto the jar with the magnetic stick from the tool kit (to avoid burning your hands).

Screw the top on just lightly – don’t cram it tight as it may ruin the seal.

Once all apple butter has been placed in jars and sealed you leave them out sitting rightside up until you hear them “pop” that they are sealed. You’ll be able to press on the top of the lid later to see if they all sealed properly. I had one that didn’t seal for some reason so I just put that one in the fridge to eat right away.

Then comes the part of how you want to individualize your jam label! You can get all kinds of stickers to place on the top of the bottle and place your jam/preserving item name and date on top – and if room anything else you want!

The apple butter turned out great and I’ve had it several times on toast! I hope that I can save a few bottles for Christmas gifts! I will definitely be preserving more in the future!

Apple Butter