I’ve been drowning in fruit this month, with baskets of pears and crab apples all over the kitchen. It’s a lovely position to be in in many ways but the sheer volume can be a bit daunting, especially when you haven’t actually eaten all of last year’s bounty. I still have bottled pears and jars and jam and jelly in the store cupboard, in spite of giving quantities away to friends and family.
Luckily a friend came and did a bit of scrumping in the orchard but that still left me with more than four kilos of crab apples. As we have already made herb jellies of every description, as well as industrial amounts of chilli jelly, I wanted to do something slightly different.
This is what I came up with: the sloe gin gives the jelly an elusive hint of Campari bitterness which is very appealing. I think it will be good with game, lamb and duck, either as a relish or stirred into a sauce. It would also be a welcome addition to a cheese board. Or try it with a pâté, served with toasted brioche.
Be warned, crab apples contain a lot of pectin so it could reach setting point very quickly. Have your jars warming in the oven before you start.
Crab Apple and Sloe Gin Jelly
Ingredients:
A quantity of crab apples
Water
Granulated sugar (see method)
Sloe gin – 2 tbsp per 450g of sugar
Method:
Halve the crab apples, removing the stalks and any blemishes. Place in a large pan and add enough water to barely cover the fruit. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the fruit is has broken down.
Strain overnight through a jelly bag without pressing on the fruit, otherwise your jelly will be cloudy.
Measure the resulting liquid and for every 450ml, weigh out 450g of sugar. Put both in the cleaned pan on a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Turn up the heat and add a small nut of butter. This will prevent too much scum from forming and will vanish into the finished jelly. Boil without stirring until it is close to setting point, when the jelly starts to form pearls as it falls off a wooden spoon.
Stir in the sloe gin and continue to cook until setting point is reached: 105C with a jam thermometer or when a spoonful placed on a chilled saucer wrinkles after a few minutes when you push it with your finger. Skim off any scum, pot into sterilised jars and seal straight away.
Oh yes! Now they won’t have THAT in South Korea.
Lol, by the time you get home you might welcome a change from kimchi. 😀
You make me think of my parents making jams and jellies, 40 years ago and more.
Love it Linda.
Thanks, Conor. It sometimes feels as though I’ve been making them for 40 years and more. 🙂
A worthy use of your time so!
well, I would try this amazing recipe, but some rather generous and fabulous person has already promised to send me some!
It should be with you today or tomorrow. 🙂
I hope I’m not hassling you – anytime is just brilliant. You’re very generous x
Not at all, I posted them yesterday and I had to go to the PO anyway. xxx
😘
What a wonderful combination! I’ve only roasted crab apples with pork, I think.
Thanks, Mimi. I love crab apple jelly, you can combine it with so many different flavours. We make industrial quantities of chilli jelly because the family all love it. This is a new one and I’m looking forward to playing around with it.
Don’t you have to just add a ton of sugar to make it even palatable?
No, just the usual. An equal amount of sugar to juice after straining.
Maybe mine are tarter. But really good to know.
Perhaps, tho’ I find that ratio works for the sourest fruits. Lx
I miss my crab apple tree since we moved house, although still have some murky-looking jars of crab apple and mint jelly, dated 2008. Vintage! On the subject of sloes, there are none to be found here at all this year 🙁
Heavens, if you ever want crab apples you just need to visit us in September, we have been drowning in them. Haven’t had time to look for sloes this year, so lucky we have gallons of sloe gin still lurking in the cupboard, ditto bullace gin. Come on down!