A beautiful, fast-growing, flowering tree, the crab apple also gives you a bounty of crab apples come summer. The fruit is about quarter-sized with a crispy clean tartness, but it is definitely appley. So what do you do with a tree full of crab apples? Well, for starters, jelly.
Gather the fruit; I had about 2 1/2 gallons.
Crab apples are hard and you can't just slice them. So, how to chop? I dug out these two old kitchen tools. Notice the acorns carved on the handle on the left. The tool on the right is older, like maybe colonial days old with its kidney bean shape. Each tool has been shaped and hammered or forged. The tool on the left worked better for this job.
Well, here is the result of all that chopping, now ready to cook down to a sauce. You will have to drain the mash in a cheesecloth to get the juice, but any jam or jelly making book will instruct you how to make the jelly.
Voila! It only took several hours . . . but here is the result. I need to make some scones now to try it.
But, if that wasn't enough and you like the occasional drinky winky, I chopped some more and am making crab apple liqueur. These recipes are all over the web. The one on the left is straight vodka and the one on the right has vodka and a little brandy in it. It is fun to play around with the flavors. When I look out to the tree that is still loaded, I am thinking juice for drink concoctions or pickled crab apples, but I don't think any in my family will eat them. Oh well, it's on to the white peaches.
5 comments:
Neat vintage kitchen tools! The jelly and the "drinky winky" bottles are also pretty!
OK I am very impressed.
heavenly, heavenly.
I am going nuts over here in NYC without any crab apples around! I never really thought about them, but after reading this piece, I want them badly.
They look fabulous, what a domestic goddess you are :-)
Leeann x
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