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Basic Apple Jelly

Photo Credit
Madele/Shutterstock
The Editors
Category
Pickles and Preserves
Course
Side Dishes
Preparation Method
Cook
Sources
The Old Farmer's Almanac Colonial Cookbook
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This Basic Apple Jelly recipe is very flexible. Choose your apple variety based on flavor. Porters or MacIntosh will make a sweet jelly, while Gravensteins or Greenings will make a spicier jelly. Learn about the best apple varieties for cooking.

This recipe works with Crab Apples as well. 

See our “How to Make Jelly” Guide for more information and jelly recipes.

Ingredients
4 pounds tart (underripe) apples or crab apples
4 cups water
3 cups sugar
Instructions
  1. Wash the apples, remove the stems and the blossom ends, and cut into quarters. Do not pare—a large amount of the natural pectin is lodged in and just under the skin. Cut crab apples in half.
  2. Put prepared apples in a large stainless steel or enameled kettle. Add the cold water—there should be about an inch of apples out of the water, but you should be able to see the water level in the kettle. Cover and cook slowly over low heat until the apples are soft.
  3. Mash the fruit slightly while it is still in the kettle. Suspend over a large bowl in a damp jelly bag or colander lined with wet cheesecloth. The juice will drip through the bag or colander into the bowl. Pour the kettle contents, fruit and liquid, into the bag or colander and allow the juice to drip through into the bowl for at least 2 hours or overnight. Meanwhile, do something else so that you will not be tempted to squeeze the bag to hurry things along. Squeezing (or pushing through the colander) will not hurt the flavor of the jelly, but it will cloud it as minute particles of pulp will come through into the juice.
  4. When the juice has dripped through, measure out 4 cups (leave the rest for another batch), add to a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add the sugar while stirring the jelly. Continue stirring, keeping the jelly at a boil until the candy thermometer reads 8 degrees above the boiling point of water - about 220°F - or until the jelly sheets off a spoon.
  5. Remove from heat and skim the foam off the jelly. Quickly ladle the hot apple jelly into hot, sterilized jars, leaving ¼-inch of headspace.  Wipe the rims of the jars and add lids that have been washed and dried. Add screw bands and tighten until fingertip-tight.
  6. Place jars on a rack in a boiling water bath canner and make sure they are completely covered with water (1-2 inches above the jars). Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Process ½ pint mason jars and 8 oz jelly jars for 10 minutes. Remove the canner lid for 5 minutes, then remove the jars to a towel on the counter and cool for 12 to 24 hours. Learn more about how to properly can food at home. Test the sealing of jars by pressing lightly in the center of the lid and store jars that have been sealed.  Any jars that don’t seal may be refrigerated and used.
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The Old Farmer's Almanac Editors

We love introducing fun new recipes as well as time-tested recipes, straight from the archives! Read More from The Old Farmer's Almanac Editors
 

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Comments

Joe (not verified)

7 months ago

I took fresh apples ( don’t really know what kind-they were really small Ted apples ). I did not cook them, I used a juicer to extract the juice.
So now do I just cook the juice with the sugar and lemon juice like the recipe calls for?

Mapril Combs (not verified)

1 year 5 months ago

I'm old, but I seem to remember my mother washing the apples, peeling and coring them, making applesauce from those good Gravensteins, then cooking the peelings and cores to make juice for jelly. Is that possible? She would combine apple juice with other fruit juices to use the apple pectin rather than store bought. BTW, the old Gravenstein is still alive and well, over 100 years old now! I live in SW Oregon, where blackberries grow wild and there is a Blackberry Festival in Coos Bay every year. Yum!

Yesss :)
I just finished straining the juices/pectin from boiling down peels, core, water & lemon juice. I let it simmer with a cinnamon stick & a hot pepper.
I came online to get ratios to make jelly. This one will be an apple hot pepper jelly 🍎

Jade (not verified)

7 years 2 months ago

By kettle, do you mean just a sizeable saucepan or cooking pot? I image-Googled "Kettle" but all I got were teakettles.

Could I use a double boiler to avoid scorching?