Ugh.
Ugh.
I wish I could be more upbeat about this whole harvest thing, but MAN. I’m ridiculously SICK of it. How do orchard people stay happy? How does anyone stay happy? It’s just one thing after another thing after another… it’s never over. I’m never done!
aah. I digress. Again.
Not only do I sit and think “Oh my gosh, I’ve got to deal with those _______.” (fill in the blank with apples, peppers, eggplant, kale plants, beets, carrots, parsnips, etc.) But then I think “Oh my gosh, I’ve got to get that apple post up on the blog.” And then I wonder “What the hell am I even doing this stupid blog for?” For which I do not have an answer.
Aside from my petulance about all the harvest things I have yet to do, I am really, really excited smug about this pairing of apple recipes.
First, know this: I grow organic apples.
Second, know this: I grow organic apples because it is the easiest way to grow apples. You basically do nothing, versus spraying chemicals on the apples every two weeks. I can’t be counted on to do anything “every two weeks.”
Third, know this: my organic apples are very ugly and hard to give away.
Fourth, know this: I hate to waste garden food and therefore I have a lot of ugly apples. Very tasty, ugly apples. Hence this combo of recipes.
Backstory
We had two hard freezes before September was over. Normally we have a few frosts, things wind down slowly and the apples are about the last garden item to be harvested, along with carrots and parsnips. This year however, our first frost was not a frost, but a freeze. The apples were mostly OK that night (26), but a week later the temps dipped down to 20. Not 25, but 20! So I spent the day picking all the apples and sorting them into 3 piles: compost, really ugly but useable, and maybe-I-can-eat-this-apple-fresh piles.
I use the “Really Ugly but Useable” apples for pies and sauce. I basically just cut away everything gross and use what I can. Last year, I was making tons of pies to freeze. I had a bucket of peels and cores under the sink in the compost bucket. I think I might have even emptied some coffee ground on top of them. Then I read something about boiling the peels and cores to get juice that you use for apple jelly. Honestly! That’s like making food from garbage!
So I brushed the coffee grounds off the browned peels and cores and dumped them in a pan with some water and started boiling. I got only 1 pint of jelly out of it, but oh MAN, it was so insanely good! In my opinion, it’s way better than my raspberry jam that everyone seems to want. The jelly was too runny last year, but I didn’t care. This year, I was hoping I could do it better.
So here is my process. And if I may be allowed to say so, it’s brilliant. I don’t know how many other people have ugly apples, but if you do, please don’t throw them away: try this!
Apple Sauce and Apple Jelly
The ugliest useable apples go into the Sauce/Jelly pile (this is a very complicated pile system) while the prettier ones go into the Pie/Jelly pile (that’s Apples Part Two, coming soon). Just for the record, my apples are a mixture of Honey Crisp, Haralson and two mystery varieties.
I take an apple, and cut it in half, then quarters, and assess the situation:
if looks OK, I cut the core out and put that in the jelly pot. The quarters go into the Sauce Pot.
If it looks über yucky, I use what I can.
Nice bright pieces go into the Sauce Pot.
Mottled brownish pieces (trails from the Apple Magot Fly) go into the Jelly Pot.
I do confess that we often just eat the less disgusting brownish ones. They are only trails of worms long gone. You can hardly see some of them. Just so you know: I like to think I’m preparing my family for some apocalypse that will take place some time in the future. My kids are going to be way more immune to gross food than yours will be.
I work my way thru the pile (which isn’t disappearing nearly fast enough). And yes, that’s a trash can and yes, it’s kind of dirty…
The pectin for the jelly comes from the peels and the seeds, so you need those for the jelly. The peels stay on the sauce apples because I will put those thru the food mill and they make the sauce pink, which is very pretty. I could leave the cores on the sauce apples as well, but they are helpful for the jelly and it’s easy enough to just cut those out. Is this as confusing as I think it is? It shouldn’t be…
Oh my gosh I have a terrible headache… But I still have 42% battery left on my laptop, so I must press on!
I basically just keep going until one or the other pots fill up. Then I add about 1 cup of water to the sauce apples and turn on low and cover. I almost cover the Jelly Apples with water and add a whole bunch of ROSEMARY (my favorite flavor). Do not skip this step. If you don’t have any, go buy some. Seriously.
Add 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed (not!) lemon juice. (I’ll squeeze up to 1/4 cup. More than that, and I use this stuff, kindly given to me by my friend Chris when I complained that real lemon juice — as opposed to RealLemon brand yucko — didn’t exist. She got this at CostCo.
Stir it up and turn on low, cover and cook till apples are soft, at least an hour.
Once soft and tender, line a strainer with several layers of cheese cloth (or use a jelly bag, whatever the Hell that is, if you happen to have one. I do not.) set over a large bowl and pour in. Do NOT push or force apples thru.
This mixture needs to sit a good long time, preferably overnight in a cool place. I’m thinking that maybe it’ll be cool enough on my porch tonight. Ya think?
Meanwhile, the Sauce Apples should be soft and ready to process. Put the Sauce apples thru a food mill to get rid of the peels and any seeds.
I put the food mill right back over the pot they cooked in because once you are done processing them, turn the heat back up, add 1/4 c lemon juice for about 4 lbs of cut apples and sugar to taste. I added about 1/2 cup. I also add about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon because we like that. Bring to a simmer and ladle into clean, hot sterilized canning jars.
Heat process (steam or boil) 10 minutes for 1/2 pint jars.
You are now done for the day, go to bed feeling like a superstar. Tomorrow, though, it all begins again, so sleep well.
In the morning (or several hours later), put the juice from the strained apple rosemary mash into a measuring cup.
I have just over 4 cups, so that means I need to add 4 cups of sugar. Put it into a big-ass pot, because the jelly needs to be cooked at a full rolling, foamy boil.
It took me about 20 minutes to reach the magic temperature of 220 degrees F. Be sure to skim off as much of the foam as possible because it makes a bigger difference for clear jellies. I don’t worry about it too much with my jam, but you can see it below, suspended in my jelly. As soon as it reaches 220, turn off the heat and ladle into hot, sterilized 1/2 pint jars, wipe the rims and seal. Heat process for 10 minutes. Refrigerate any jars that don’t seal.
See the foam? Really ticked me off, I have to say. But then, just another reason to keep it for myself.
Apple Sauce and Apple Jelly. Leave it on your counter to admire for a couple days, then trudge it out to the garage or basement or where ever you store that type of thing.
And this year, It’s the PERFECT consistency! So happy.
Sheila says
Great pics! Looks lovely. You are amazing!
Christie Rath says
Gosh – how this makes me wish I still lived down the street so I could break into your house for apple jelly…my favorite. So hard to find the good stuff. My organic grocery delivery has organic ugly apples for cheap so MAYBE I will attempt. Flying to MN and breaking into your house sounds easier!
admin says
Christie! You should try it. You really can’t believe how easy it is. (and you don’t even HAVE to heat process. Read my little blurb about that in the salsa post). The rosemary in it transcends all thought. It is that good.
admin says
Sheila! I love you! I wish you could live here and tell me I am amazing everyday. Maybe THAT’s why I write this stupid blog…
Carolyn in Utah says
Those flavors sound great together! I am embarrassed, though, to say I’ve never had apple jelly before. Do you use it with PB&J’s or what? Sounds like the kind of kitchen project I could get into… autumn does that to me.
I just found you via Pioneer Woman… can’t wait to read all your other entries!
jennifer menke says
Hi Carolyn in Utah!! (We were just in Utah last weekend. St George. It was so hot and fun. so beautiful. where are you?)
I eat apple jelly mostly on toast (see the last pic above) — on my homemade ciabatta bread (the recipe/video is on this blog somewhere. I don’t know how to embed a link in comments because… well because I haven’t figured it out yet!). Yum. But I have also been able to pull together a mean, “gourmet” apple mint jelly for lamb at the last minute with this jelly too, which is always fun when guests realize it’s home made. That’s always a fun trick.
Anyway. thanks for stopping by and let me know if you try the recipe!
joy says
do you ever put a little butter in to keep the foam down?
I did 43 quarts of apple pie filling Saturday and have LOTS of cores and peels. Maybe I can get some really good, big fresh rosemary from a neighbor………….Can’t wait to try the jelly.
admin says
43 quarts?! WOW!
I have heard that butter works great. I have used butter with store bought pectin for my pepper jelly, but not this recipe.
I think you have a neighbor that has LOTS of fresh rosemary. Let me know if you need her number… 🙂
I’m making more today with all my peels and cores. Yee haw!
Chef Deb says
What an amazing website/blog you have. Bravo to you! I love your writing style; so accessible to everyone regardless of his or her culinary expertise. Keep up the great work. I’m heading to my organic grocers to check out their “produce death care” for beautiful ugly apples!
admin says
So fun to have a “chef Deb” comment! Thank you for such nice words. I hope you can find some ugly apples. More than that, I wish I could give you the rest of mine! …the guilt at their languishing in the cooler outside my front door, mocking me at each exit, is almost too much for me.
Nat Alea says
Is that SNOW in your picture???? It’s 76 degrees in sunny OK!!! (had to rub that in haha). Will definately be trying your recipe for Christmas presents. Both apple sauce and jelly looks beautiful!
admin says
Thanks Nat! I would love to hear how it turns out if you do it.
p. claire says
i am in the process of making the jelly….from just cores and peels from a batch of apple butter. i think i might have added too much water and too much rosemary. i was tasting the “juice” as it was cooking down and it tasted like hot metallic-rosemary water. so, went to the farm stand and bought five apples. i chopped them up and added them to the pot for more apple flavor. we shall see how it turns out. i also have a feeling it won’t be too clear…but if it tastes good, i could care less…the beauty of a home made item.
Jennie menke says
It will be fine! Just simmer it a long time, evaporating some of the water. How much Rosemary did you use? I don’t think you can use too much. I had a full pot of apple peels and cores, I used about a 9″ branch of Rosemary. When I taste mine, at that stage after it’s cooked, it is quite bitter. Sort of icky. I would describe it as bad cider. As far as clarity goes, just use several layers of cheese cloth. I used about 5 or 6. Don’t press on the solids. The juice is a beautiful color, but not clear until it is boiled with the sugar.
Even if you started with too much water in that first step, it will correct itself at the jelly stage, because it will not reach 220 degrees until enough of the water has boiled off to allow it to reach that temp. So either way, you should be fine.
PLEASE come back and let me know how it goes. Good luck!
PLEASE let me know how it turns out!
p. claire says
uh, i added the rest of my dried up rosemary, about 6 stems. hahaha. i am really bad at following recipes…but i swear i am a good cook, just fearless about changing stuff.
i didn’t press, although i wanted to for more apple flavor. good to know about the water boil off to achieve the 220. canning/jelly making is a new thing for me, this being the first jelly.
i will let you know how it turns out.
admin says
Nat, I almost forgot — YES, you smug guy, it IS snow! And that was weeks ago now! We’ve had two more run-ins with the stuff. Now that we are in November, it could actually start to stick. I love snow, but I love it when it falls feet at a time so I can snow shoe. I am hoping we can hold off on the true winter weather for a few more weeks…
admin says
P. Claire — can’t wait. I’m holding my breath. I would be so sad if it didn’t turn out.
I’m a good cook, too, but still have lots of “failures” that really aren’t all that bad. As far as jelly goes, last year’s apple rosemary was only the second time I had tried making jelly at all. The first time was with a friend’s harvest of pink grapes. It tasted great, but had the consistency of sticky paste. I concluded that I boiled it too long. Therefore last year, I was careful NOT to boil the apple jelly too long and ended up with a thin sauce! This year I did a bit of research, calibrated my thermometer (which was, indeed, off by two degrees!) and hit upon perfection: 220! Who cares if it isn’t perfectly clear. It’s that ROSEMARY APPLE combo that will melt your heart. Good luck!!!
p. claire says
ok, it is good. really good.
this is what i did…i decided to do a test with only a certain amount, so that i didn’t waste time and sugar.
i cooked 3 cups of the “juice” with half of the sugar,(another problem of mine, i am not a sweets person, i always cut the sugar) i poured into the lone jar and tasted the left over once it cooled. yummy. it will be great with pork loin. i put the remainder juice in the freezer and i will see how this one jar sets up. i have to go to louisiana tonight to see relatives for a week. if it sets up without the full sugar, i am in business.
this is going to be so yummy, a combination of sweet and savory, that i love.
yeah, thanks to you i am a jelly maker now.
ps. if i ever get savvy enough, i will take pictures.
p. claire says
oh and you are commended on raising your kids to eat none pretty food. i don’t have kids, but i have friends and kids in my life that are way too picky in that department. my mother at an early age was always telling me i had to eat things, no matter what. “carbon is good for you,” about the burned toast. “just cut off that mold, it is still good and that is just penicillin” about anything that was starting to turn green.
oh and there was no 3 second rule in our house. you brushed it off or rinsed it. she would also shove what little tidbit fell on the ground, back into the main bowl, saying, “ha, now you’ll never know which one it was!”
germs and dirt are good.
admin says
I am so happy!! Wasn’t it so unbelievably tasty?? Anyway, about that low sugar… I am down to 2/3 the sugar. For last few batches I made (the unposted Apple Madness part 2), in which I boiled over 37 cups of juice, I was using 9 cups of juice to 6 or 6.5 cups of sugar. So far the consistency and jelling are perfectly fine. Maybe just a bit less “rubbery” to use a sick-sounding term, but absolutely fine.
Again, come back and let us know. I’ve always found the the stuff left in the pan as it cools is a good indication of the firmness, assuming it didn’t sit on the heat any longer.
ahhh. a weight off my heart! thanks for letting me know!
p. claire says
whoops, typo, non not none in the 1st sentence.
sorry.
admin says
HA! Perfect! The only problem is, it isn’t only my kids that I do this too. You should see the faces of my dinner guests!
🙂
Angie Reynolds says
How did I miss this????
(I almost cover the Jelly Apples with water) Thanks for letting me know!!! Love reading your blog!
My children and I are getting ready to do apple cider as well!!! I still have alot of apples to go!!
Angie Reynolds says
I have 3 pots of apples to make your applesuace (left the skins on) I love the pink color!!! Can’t wait to get home and finish! And finish the jelly, this time I followed your directions (including water):) hehe!
p. claire says
hey there, i am back from my trip south. full of really good southern louisiana food.
i took the “juice” out of the freezer, defrosted it and cooked it up tonight. the freezing, for more needed time, does not seem to effect the jelly making. i think it is going to be the most amazing stuff. the one test jar that i made is beyond good. i love the rosemary fragrance that comes off of it when spreading it on toast. i am telling everyone about it and if they are of the camp that scrinches up their nose at it, they get none. my small town will be made up of the have and have nots when it comes to christmas time. they will regret that pre-judge scrinch, mark my words.
i am going out to the one apple stand that is still open and buying all their apples. then i am going for a surf from tropical storm ida. the apples will be one with rosemary by tuesday.
i cannot believe that you boiled down that much juice. good god, i imagine you are over jelly at this point.
thank you so much.
p. claire says
ok, another question. i got up this morning with great anticipation of my jelly. i picked up a jar to see how jelly like it is…..and it looks like it is thick syrup.
dookey.
did i not get it to 220 degrees like i thought? did i get it there and let it boil at 220 too long? i did the half sugar like the test jar. what would happen if i took it all out and boiled it again?
double dookey.
admin says
oh no! here is my best guess. I would say the main difference between your test jar and this batch is that this batch has way more water to apple juice/pectin. That first batch was a literal jar of pectin, since that’s how cooks in the old days made pectin! Personally, I don’t know enough about the science of jelly to be the guru, but I passed what I have learned and read on:
1) Did you add the lemon juice? Enough acid must be present for the jelly to set. How much juice, sugar and lemon juice did you use?
2) Did you calibrate your thermometer? Mine is just 2 degrees off. And that was enough to make my first attempt at apple jelly into apple syrup/sauce, much like you are describing. Because I like a soft set, and deplore a gooey jelly, I boil to 220, but jelly sets between 220-222 degrees, so no, I don’t think you overcooked it. When I cook the jelly, it takes very long to rise those last 2 degrees– probably 7/8 of the actually boiling time takes place in that last degree! And, it absolutely must come to at least 220. If your thermometer is off, that will make a huge difference in the results. To calibrate, put your thermometer into boiling water. It should read EXACTLY 212. If it reads 214, then you must adjust accordingly, which would mean boiling your jelly to 222-224 with THAT thermometer. Does that make sense?
3) how much did you cook at once? If you did 8 cups of juice, like I did, it must be a very big pot. If you don’t have a big pot, split it into two batches if you are cooking a lot.
So anyway, yes, by all means(!), unseal the jars and reboil after checking your thermometer. Add more lemon juice if you didn’t add any or skimped on it the first go-round. Also consider adding another cup of sugar. Reboiling and recooking will in no way affect the quality of the jelly.
Let me know what you think, based on my suggestions and questions.
Jen
p. claire says
ok, i am going to calibrate tonight and re-boil. i was just looking for any bit of a reason to re-boil.
i did add lemon when i first made the juice. i did boil up 12 cups of the juice last night, so i will divide and conquer.
i was also wondering if the freezing process broke down the natural pectin. if it doesn’t work the second time, who cares, people will have runny jelly. it is still good.
i will let you know what happens. thanks for the tips.
p. claire says
ok, i re-boiled the snot out of it. i took it up to 235 – 240 degrees i am going to look at in the morning and see how it set up.
i have also gone off the deep end. i went out and bought two more bushels of apples today. i am going to be swimming it apple butter and jelly.
i can’t stop.
p. claire says
hey there –
i made tons of apple butter and as much as possible, the jelly. i gave it out for christmas presents. my friend bill had decided to start a church around the two. he sent me a picture of the jelly this morning and i was just so proud. i would love to put the picture up, but i don’t know how to do that.
thank you so much for your help and recipes. everyone is very impressed.
admin says
that is so awesome. And it worked out after all your problems? You like it??
On my own apple jelly front, there has been near disaster. It seems that my long-time raspberry jam eating family is SWITCHING THEIR ALLIANCES TO APPLE JELLY and my SUPPLY IS DWINDLING! My mom has also started eating it like a diabetic and requesting more!
It is …so GOOD! 🙂
p. claire pertalion says
hey there again –
it is apple season back here on the east end of long island and i went nuts. i am making more apple jelly. it is straining as i type. i am wondering if the next batch would be any good with sage?
hope your apples are coming in also.
Jenmenke says
How FUNNY! I am doing the same. Sunday was what I called “SuperApple Sunday” I did sauce, pies and jelly juice. Monday was processing, canning and cleaning up. All went smoothly except my very last 8 cup juice batch, which didn’t set up (!). So baffled. Everything was the same. Same juice, same sugar, same temperature. The only thing I can think of is that batch didn’t come to a rolling, frothing boil. I’ve reopened the jars and am reboiling. What a pain in the ASS!
p. claire pertalion says
welcome to my world of re-boiling. it worked, but i boiled the snot out of it, like i said. i ended up with 4 jars that wouldn’t totally set, they were kinda pudding like. i still used it, it was great over ice cream.
i am trying the sage on my second batch of cores, skins and seeds. hopefully it will turn out.
i am dog sitting at a beautiful house, i don’t really have a kitchen where i live right now, so i am using this one. if this woman comes home early, i am done for. i have so much stuff spread out all over the kitchen. ha.
admin says
I can feel your pain now. I opened all the jars and reboiled. This time I was sure to have it at a full, frothy, rolling boil. do you do that? Maybe that is essential. I didn’t think it mattered for natural pectin, but maybe it works the same way as added pectin, which clearly states that it needs to boil at that state for a certain amount of time. Not sure. Everything else was the same: sugar, same batch of juice, same temp. But that is the only thing that was different from my two other batches. The last batch I brought to temperature over a long time at a gentle boil. I certainly won’t do it that way again!
p. claire pertalion says
yeah, that is what i do……and did again today. i got up all excited to see my jars of jelly and they were syrup. i emptied the jars and reboiled. the funny thing was, it got up to the high temp super fast. i also squeezed a bit more lemon juice into the mixture. i wonder at times if i have the acid/sugar ratios down.
i did make the sage flavored one and it is pretty good! i have to add more sage next time. i want to it to be a little stronger. maybe next year.
p. claire pertalion says
you know, i look on my thermometer and it has all these other temps, like hard crack or hard ball, anyway…..how do you get things on your stove top that hot!!!!? this process takes a long enough time, i cannot image how long it takes stuff to get that cooked.
Candace says
Why do you make effort to write “this stupid blog” anyway? Because people like me do a google search in desperation using term – “what to do with ugly apples.” Thanks for the ideas and the laugh.
admin says
That is the million dollar question Candace! I have no idea why I write this stupid blog. I guess I enjoy it. And yet I simply can’t justify the time I spend on it to anyone who asks… seriously odd.
admin says
Thats the million dollar question, Candace — I have no idea! I guess I enjoy it. But it is very hard to justify the amount of time I spend on it. So I feel guilty. And that’s why I call it a stupid blog.
Mary B . says
Thank you. I have hope! Do you have any ideas for a ridiculous amount of ugly pears? I’ve made two days worth of pear butter already.
p. claire pertalion says
just checking in again this year. i am back and have the science down for the apple jelly.
i have folks who are demanding it again.
thanks for all your teachings.
admin says
You beat me to it! I’ve managed to pick the apples, but not to do anything with them yet! Come back and tell me how it goes. I did do one new thing this year: I made raspberry SYRUP with my last batch of raspberries. Everyone seems to love it. 🙂
p. claire pertalion says
the first batch worked out great. i cook it in 8 cup batches, because of the pot size. i have much more to make, i had two bushels of apples and tons of apple butter.
i made a sage jelly last year, but the taste didn’t come through as good as the rosemary.
my season is different than yours, here in the east. just picked a bunch of cranberries, i am thinking a cranberry syrup might be good, via your raspberry.
faye says
how do you make apple butter