Apple Song
The apples are seasoned and ripe and sound
Gently they fall on the yellow ground
The apples are stored in the dusty bin
Where hardly a glimmer of light creeps in
In the firelit winter nights, they’ll be
The clear sweet taste of a summer’s tree!
~Frances Frost
During a recent phone conversation, my Mom told me about the crab apple jelly she and dad had mixed up. She agreed to write it out and share it with us all. So here is my Mom (otherwise known as Nana) as a guest blogger:
We have tried for years to get a tree started to the west of our house for some cool shade. I’ve lost count of how many trees we’ve planted there!
Finally a crab apple tree lived more than a year! It has grown and produced fruit over the last few years, but never the size not the number that fill the branches this year!
Since the crab apple sits right outside our dining room window, it seemed to challenge us at every meal to do something with it’s fruit. Being the frugal people we are, we just couldn’t let it go to waste!
Papa and I had discussed the possibility of making some jelly with it, but he’s been busy with black walnuts and my list of in-house projects took priority- until this week. We looked at each other and said, “Let’s do it!”
Papa picked 3- 5 quart plastic buckets of crab apples while I surfed the web to find some information and recipes for crab apple jelly.
He suggested that we put some red-hot cinnamon candy in for a boost in flavor! (The grand kids can tell you that Papa likes to put red hot candies in lots of things- like the popcorn popper when making popcorn and adding them to pancakes!)
We decided that there was a reason for the name “crab”- definitely not sweet and almost bitter!
Was it frugal? With the cost of sugar, sure-jell and flats to seal the jars, I’m not sure. But the color is beautiful! And it tastes great! With all the sugar and the candies, it is delicious on bread, toast and crackers.
Prairie Crab Apple Jelly
Wash 3-4 gallons of crab apples. Remove stems (nail clippers work well) and blossom end. Discard any apples with blemishes.
No need to cut or core, just place the apples in a stock pot and barely cover with water.
Bring to a boil and 20-25 minutes until soft. (Too long will make them bitter.)
Pour through a fine strainer. In order to have clear jelly- DO NOT PRESS! Discard the apples.
Measure 7 cups of juice in and put in a deep pot (you will need room for it to boil.)
Add 9 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup of red hot cinnamon candies.
Stir constantly until you have a full rolling boil.
Add 1 box of sure-jell and continue to stir. Bring to a full rolling boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim foam from the top. (One recipe said that you could add 1 tablespoon of butter to the juice to eliminate the foaming.)
Pour into sterilized jars and seal.
Yield 13 cups of jelly.
Enjoy!
Until next time,
The final count after our amazing apple butter marathon was 64 pints. Wow!
So now you’re asking what in the world am I going to do with all of it?
Eat it of course! I’ll use some in this apple butter bar recipe that my sister Teresa was kind enough to share with me.
She makes these to sell at the farmer’s market and believe me- they are good!
These delicious bars are fast and easy to make, and always remind me of apple crisp- but with lots of topping!
Apple Butter Bars
Mix 1 1/4 cup flour and 1 cup brown sugar.
Cut in 1 stick oleo.
Stir in 1 1/4 cups of oatmeal.
Press 1/2 the mixture firmly in a greased 8″ square pan.
Spread 3/4 c. (1/2 pint) apple butter to within 1/2″ of edges.
Sprinkle with remaining mixture and press firmly.
Bake 350 degrees 40 minutes.
These are a hot item at her farmer’s market booth and with the family. We’ve learned to get them while they are hot because there are rarely any left!
Still basking in the glory of my first attempt at homemade refried beans, I decided to attempt a second batch.
Again I measured 8 cups of beans. Then I sorted, cleaned and soaked them overnight. The next moring I put them on to cook and this time I allowed lots of cooking time! Those beans bubbled the entire morning and some of the afternoon before I had time to deal with them.
They were so soft that I was afraid to drain the cooking water for fear I would lose most of my beans. So I improvised!
I grabbed my immersion blender and began smooshing the entire thing together in the cooking pot. Forget about the “re frying” part- my friend Cinnamon said I didn’t need to do it anyway!
So I just smooshed them all together and added some powdered garlic and onion and salt.
Yum! I like it even better than my first batch!
But what about my toughest critics?
Since the texture was more like the canned variety, two of my three boys gave them a thumbs up.
The third boy simply said, “They’re better than the first batch- a little.”
Six “yes” votes and one “maybe”- I’ll call this batch a success!
We spent a very cold evening last night at our annual home school hot dog roast.
There’s nothing quite as tasty as a charred hot dog with a cold inside eaten on a ketchup drenched bun while sitting on a lawn chair balancing a plate of goodies on your knees.
There’s smoke in my eyes, ketchup dribbled down my shirt, and chips drowned in my baked beans.
I love it!
Maybe the food doesn’t meet gourmet standards, but the atmosphere rivals the finest dining establishments!
The kids are laughing and playing while the adults are enjoying the warmth of the fire, catching up on life.
There’s something about watching a bonfire on a crisp night that is relaxing and brings perspective. Your entire world is reduced to the glow of the fire and those people immediately around you.
You snuggle down in the warmth of your coat and hold hands with your honey while watching the embers and flying sparks against the pitch black night sky.
Yep…I love a campfire!
