Apple Scrap Jelly by Zen

[BakerAunt]

Apple Scrap Jelly
Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on September 18, 2012 at 4:54 pm

THIS RECIPE IS NOT YET TESTED BY ME

This recipe reminded me of the crabapple jelly I made as a kid. It was WAY more flavorful than the comparatively anemic apple jelly from regular apples.

Using the peels and cores not only gives this recipe a pectin boost, it approximates that concentration of flavor you get from crabapples, with their high peel and core to flesh ratio. It's the right color, too - a nice reddish blush, not the pale color of jelly made from regular apples.

Now I have a use for the peels and cores every time I make a pie or crumble!

Source: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=275484.0

Apple peels and cores
Water to cover
half as much sugar by volume as you get juice from the above

1) put peels and cores from your apples in a pot with water just to cover.

2) bring to a boil; cook for about 10 minutes.

3) Strain and reserve the juice.

4) measure the juice and return to the pot.

5) add 1/2 as much sugar, by volume, as you had juice. So if you had 1.5c of juice, you would add 3/4c of granulated sugar.

6) OPTIONAL: Add about 1/2 tsp cinnamon per cup of juice - more or less to taste. I use none, that's to my taste, LOL!

7) Cook until it reaches 220F, or until it passes the spoon test.

THE SPOON TEST:
Take a cool METAL spoon, dip it in the boiling juice, and hold the spoon vertically and see how the mixture falls off the spoon.

If it pours off like syrup in a stream or drip after drip, it is not sheeting. It is not ready.

If it starts to drip off two drops at a time, in pairs, it's ALMOST there.

If it sort of wobbles to the edge of the spoon and gradually slides over without dripping, it is sheeting - it is done.

This is the typical apple jelly recipe, only without the lemon juice or vinegar. Since lemon juice or vinegar is intended to help set the pectin in low pectin jellies, you don't really need it here (you don't need it for crabapple jelly either).

10 minutes sounds like too little time; however cut up cores and peels may cook more quickly than whole apple chunks. I'll update this recipe as I test it, which will be as soon as I make something with apples again!

FAIR WARNING: I have seen it said that when making apple scrap jelly one should use only organic apples. I presume the worry is about the coating commercial apples are sold with (some kind of wax blend), as well as the potential for pesticides concentrated in the skin.

I don't feel such fears are very reasonable. I mean, seriously - I eat the peels when I eat a raw apple anyway. I'm satisfied to scrub the apples well before peeling - you can even wash them with a bit of Dawn dish soap to help remove the coating if you want. For the rest, I don't figure this will generally make enough nor will I eat it often enough for it to pose any serious health risk.

YMMV. Consider this information for what it's worth.

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