SPICED APPLE RINGS

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12 lb. firm tart apples (maximum diameter,2-1/2 inches)
12 cups sugar
6 cups water
1-1/4 cups white vinegar (5% acidity)
3 tbsp. whole cloves
3/4 cup red hot cinnamon candies or
8 cinnamon sticks and
1 tsp. red food coloring (optional)

YIELD: About 8 to 9 pints

PROCEDURE: Wash apples. To prevent discoloration,
peel and slice one apple at a time. Immediately cut
crosswise into 1/2-inch slices, remove core area with a
melon baller, and immerse in ascorbic acid solution (use one
teaspoon of powdered ascorbic acid per gallon of cold
water), to make flavored syrup, combine sugar, water,
vinegar, cloves, cinnamon candies, or cinnamon sticks and
food coloring in a 6-qt. saucepan. Stir, heat to boil, and
simmer 3 minutes. Drain apples, add to hot syrup, and cook
5 minutes. Fill hot jars (preferably wide-mouth) with
apple rings and hot flavored syrup, leaving 1/2-inch
headspace. Adjust lids and process.

RECOMMENDED PROCESS TIMES FOR SPICED
APPLE RINGS IN A BOILING-WATER CANNER
packed hot, pints or half pints, 10 min.

SPICED CRAB APPLES

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5 lbs crab apples
4-1/2 cups apple vinegar (5% acidity)
3-3/4 cups water
7-1/2 cups sugar
4 tsp. whole cloves
4 sticks cinnamon
Six 1/2-inch cubes of fresh ginger root

YIELD: About 9 pints

PROCEDURE: Remove blossom petals and wash apples, but
leave stems attached. Puncture the skin of each apple four
times with an ice pick or toothpick. Mix vinegar, water
and sugar and bring to a boil. Add spices tied in a spice
bag or cheesecloth. Using a blancher basket or sieve,
immerse 1/3 of the apples at a time in the boiling vinegar/
syrup solution for 2 minutes. Place cooked apples and spice
bag in a clean 1- or 2- gallon crock and add hot syrup.
Cover and let stand overnight. Remove spice bag, drain
syrup into a large saucepan and reheat to boiling. Fill
pint jars with apples and hot syrup, leaving 1/2-inch
headspace. Adjust lids and process.

RECOMMENDED PROCESS TIME FOR SPICED APPLES IN
A BOILING-WATER CANNER packed hot, pints 20 min.

Apple or Crabapple Jelly
4 cups crabapple juice
(about 3 pounds crabapples and 3 cups water)
4 cups sugar
To prepare juice, select firm, crisp crabapples, about 1/4 firm-ripe and 3/4 fully ripe. Sort, wash and remove stem and blossom ends; do not pare or core. Cut crabapples into small pieces. Add water, cover and bring to boil on high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, or until crabapples are soft. Extract juice and pour into jelly bag. To make jelly, sterilize canning jars and measure juice into saucepot. Add sugar and stir well. Boil over high heat to 8 degrees Fahrenheit above the boiling point of water (approximately 220° F depending on the altitude where you live), or until jelly mixture sheets from spoon. Remove from heat; skim off foam quickly. Pour jelly immediately into hot canning jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims and adjust lids. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water bath canner for 5 minutes for pints at altitudes from 0 to 1,000 feet or for 10 minutes from 1,001 to 6,000 feet.

Approximate yield: 4 to 5 half-pints

Spiced Pickled Crab Apples

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups apple cider vinegar
8 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons whole cloves
3 sticks cinnamon
8 pounds crab apples
PREPARATION:

Boil vinegar, brown sugar, cloves, and cinnamon together. Leave stems on crab apples. Mix vinegar and sugar; bring to a boil. Put spices in a cheesecloth bag. Add crab apples and spice bag to syrup and boil until apples are tender.
Remove the fruit with slotted spoon and pack into hot sterilized jars. Pour in syrup. Seal.
Process crabapples in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes

How do these spiced apples taste? The vinegar is scaring me off from trying them.Do they have a strong vinegary taste? I bought the red cinnamon candies to make apple rings but I'm kinda hoping they would taste similar to how the cinnamon candies taste in applesauce. Thanks

I made cinnamon crabapple jelly by steeping 2 cinnamon sticks in the juice for a few hours. I brought it to a simmer then set it aside while I did other things. I also made crabapple mint jelly and crabapple rosemary jelly. Here's the link again for Martha's jailhouse jelly.

Here is a link that might be useful: Martha's jailhouse jelly

Hmmmm....tried Martha's recipe tonight. Followed the directions carefully, but at 220 degrees the liquid was not even close to "sheeting." It seemed like it needed more sugar (?) I ended up putting powdered pectin in. Anyone else try to make this one?

The taste is quite good, but I'm not fond of the texture caused by the unexpected & not-by-the book pectin addition.

I had the opposite problem. It had so much pectin that I really had a hard time with it. It jelled really fast - just a couple of minutes after it started boiling. I wasn't quite ready. If I quit stirring it would form a skin that I would have to scoop off so it wouldn't mess up the jelly. It is frustrating when things don't go as you except. I still have a bunch more crabapple juice in my freezer. I wonder if freezing will affect the pectin.

Lol.....mine took quite a while to reach 220 degrees and then I kept testing it for "sheeting".....it must have boiled hard for another 10 minutes at 220 and it was still like Kool-aid.... before I decided I'd have to come up with another plan.

I did have the crabapple juice in the fridge for a few days before I made it. Would this have affected the pectin?

I don't think that it would. Mine also sat in the fridge a few days before becoming jelly.