Does anyone know what to make with crab apples? My tree is absolutely loaded with them but I don't know how to use them.
Thanks

They make beautiful jelly:-
Chop up crab apples, barely cover with water and simmer gently until soft and pulpy. Drain overnight through a jelly bag (I use a clean old net curtain!) without squeezing. Then measure a cup of sugar to each cup of juice. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then boil steadily until it jells when tested. Bottle and seal as usual. It is a lovely rosy pink in colour and delicious flavour.

I had a glut of them last year, but I'd be lucky if there's more than a dozen this year. While I'm not a big jam/jelly eater I hate to see the produce in my garden go to waste, so gave lots away to friends who are into preserving, and made far more jars of jelly than I could consume in a year. Every time I opened the cupboard where they're stored I wonder at their colour then wondered when I'd ever use them up.

I might be a bit slow, but fairly recently I read that the jelly is good for adding to gravies and sauces to accompany white meat such as chicken and pork, and they're correct. A good spoonful elevates an average sauce to a thing of wonder.

Lynne2

Lynne a great TIP I will try it with my Quince jelly
Lorraine

I've been waffling on about the miracles of crab apple jelly and its uses in meat dishes and sauces for yonks...sniff...at least on this website.sniff.
Do put some of the crabapple liquid aside if jelly making and into that wee (a few cups for me) bit, steep some blistering chillies overnight and then continue as for making jelly..

I tried to make crab-apple jelly once. At the boiling stage, after straining off all that glorious-coloured juice, I got sidetracked and ended up with some really delicious, but very chewy, toffee. Could well have been used as the toffee component for Toffee Apples.

Lorna

I agree with Lynne 2
As well as being a lovelyweet topper on toast, scones, etc.,..a spoonful of crab apple/feijoa/quince or guava jelly in curries balances out the "heat" with a lovely fruitiness.

Ooops! - "sweet" of course, not "weet". Too laid-back a Sunday lunch methinks!

Hello Shelley,

I too love Crab Apple Jelly! Have also come across a recipe for "Spiced Crab Apples" from a Tui Flower cookbook which sounds nice - but I haven't made it. The crab-apples are cooked and bottled with their stalks retained. Should imagine it to be a pretty looking brew! Send an e-mail if you'd like the recipe.
Regards,
Dawn.

Two streets down from me the street is lined with council planted crab apples. I get the weirdest looks every year when I go and raid the trees! Crab apple jelly, or sometimes I mix the apples with the blackberries from our vines.

Virginia

Another jelly idea is crab apple and guava.

A friend gave me a recipe along with the alppes

8lb Apples
5lb sugar
salt to taste
6 lg onions
3 litres vinegar ( I used malt)
1oz allspice
1/4 tsp cayene pepper

Put allspice and cyene in muslin and tie
Chop apples(skins and cores) and onions. Boil together 3 hours, stirring frequently. Strain thru collander or mueli. Bottle.
Best tasting 'steak sauce' I've ever had!!!!:/:/

Hi Dawn,
I'd love the recipe for Spiced Crab Apples.
Thanks for the offer.
Shelley

I used the local crab apples in a very very old recipe given me lately by a lady down the road( I believe the recipe is pre-WW11 vintage)- for her strudel, and it was magnificent - the apple and the strudel.
It freezes beautifully as well.
Here is the recipe for anyone who wants to try it:- (measurements are all approx)

STRUDEL PASTRY (makes enough for quite a few)

2 cups plain flour
one quarter cup sugar
1 egg
about 3 or 4 tablespoons oil
enough warm water to make medium soft dough.

Mix - till soft

Work it - then leave for about 1 hour

Roll out - thinly (into a vaguish rectangle). Thinly spread with melted butter

Half fill the pastry with COOKED apples with skin (only core the apples).
(I used the local crab apples)


Over the top of the apples put
Cinnamon
sugar
handful sultanas all of this is to your own tastes
handful breadcrumbs

Bring short sides of pastry to meet in the middle, then bring long sides over the top. (The melted butter holds it all together.)
Roast for about 1 hour 300 - 350* .

To test if done:- TAP the pastry. If it sounds hollow, it is ready.Leave in the pan for a while.

(This recipe courtesy of Maria, Tailem Bend South Australia)

In his excellent treatise ' The Pedant in the Kitchen', Julian Barnes mentions a recipe (courtesy of Susan Campbell's 'English Cookery New and Old') for Autumn pudding using elderberries, blackberries and crab apples. It is described as a 'far superior version of summer pudding'. Sounds good. I'm going to try it this week-end. I'll let you know how it goes.

Presumably along with autumn pudding, the strudel below, and these two included recipes one could roast the crab apples along with a joint of pork - as an alternative to apples sauce? Should be delicious... and novel!


By Karyn Saemann
Special to The Capital Times
July 26, 2004

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Karyn Saemann

Here are two family recipes that feature Whitney crab apples.


CANNED CRAB APPLES

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

6-8 whole Whitney crab apples, washed and stems retained



2 sticks of cinnamon

Cook sugar and water together until sugar is dissolved. Add apples. Simmer about 15 minutes.

Ladle apples and syrup into a glass quart jar, add cinnamon.

Seal the jar according to manufacturer's directions. Best if allowed to sit 1-2 weeks before eating.


CRAB APPLE PIE

Make usual pie crust for two crust pie. Wash Whitney crab apples well and core but do not peel. Cut in quarters.


1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine sugar, flour and salt and toss together with apples. Pour into a pastry-lined, 9-inch pie pan. Sprinkle with vanilla, lemon juice and water. Dot with butter. Add top, flute edges and cut steam vents. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes or until filling is tender and crust is browned.

Dear Dawn,

I would love to have your recipe for Spiced Crabapples. Would you mind mailing it to me since I do not have an E-mail address? My address is 44 West Locust Street, Mechanicsburg, Pa 17055. Thank You so kindly.
Clay

Dear Dawn,

I would love to have your recipe for Spiced Crabapples. Would you mind mailing it to me since I do not have an E-mail address? My address is 44 West Locust Street, Mechanicsburg, Pa 17055. Thank You so kindly.
Clay

Hi

Could someone please clarify what crab apples are? My friend has a tree of very small apples in their backyard but as they only recently purchased the house they don't know what they are. I have love to be able to tell if they are crab apples and whether I could use them to make some of these great sounding recipes.

Alternatively, can you use other apples in place of crab apples in these recipes?

Thanks, Kimberley

I recently went to a fancy restaurant, and they had used "bottled" crabapples as a garnish. Presume they would just be bottled in a sugar syrup - including stalk. Looked very attractive. Janet

Hello Kimberley,

Crab apple fruit grow to only 2 or 3 cm's so are very very tiny, but very pretty and dainty. They are extremely sour to eat raw, but make lovely Crab apple jelly etc.

Here is a link so that you can see some different types with their descriptions which might give you some help

[64.233.187.104]

I'm not sure whether this link will work or not! If you do get to see it, scroll down the page to the Crab Apple section.
Regards,
Dawn.

Hello Clay,
I nearly missed your message! Yes I can copy off the recipe for you and send it off to you in Pennsylvania and will do this within the next day or so.

I haven't personally made the recipe.

Lynley did you end up making it, and if so how did it turn out? I'd love to know!
Regards,
Dawn.

Have made the spiced Crab apples and they look magnificent and taste fantastic. It has replaced apple sauce with pork for our family. They would make lovely gifts in smaller jars. I put most of them in bigger jars and they are a bit of a pain once opened in the fridge. Just about to do my second batch
Sue in New Zealand

my mother has a "crab apple" tree in her back yard, although these apples are very tart, they look like just regular green apples but small. Are these indeed crab apples? i always thought crab apples were red, and after looking at the posted link to crab apples proved my self. but can crab apples be green as well? because i would love to make spiced apples with these little green guys aswell.
Thanks
Rose

Hello Rose,
Yes they can be. Here's another link:
[64.233.187.104];
Regards,
Dawn.

I don't think that link was successful. However, just put the words "green crab apple picture" into your search engine, and you should get several sites where you can see a picture. D

I have a crab apple tree at the home I just moved too...the apples are green too. If I leave them be, will they turn red/yellow after they ripen? Or are some varieties of them ripe for picking for jelly while still green?

Hello Lisa,
Maybe it would be useful for you to take a few leaves and some fruit from your crab apple tree to your local Plant Nursery and someone may be able to identify the variety as some varieties do stay green. My thought is that they would be beginning to colour by now if they are going to, but I'm no expert!!! A Nursery person should certainly be able to tell you whether the fruit is ripe or not.
Regards,
Dawn.

Oh Dawn thats a wonderful idea, take samples to a nursery.
Thanks

I have oodles of crab apples left, even after making jelly. Anyone who has recipes for crab apples, I sure would appreciate them. I hate to waste food, but don't know what else to do with them.
Thanks,
Connie