Jam don't shake

We seem to be moving away from the original purpose of this blog but it's hard to do cooking for one in Normandy when you're cooking for two (or more) in Newport Pagnell...

Anyway, on a walk on Sunday we found a hedgerow apple tree where the fruit, and I hesitate to call them crab apples because the tree looked more like a seedling from an eating apple, were heavy, dark and pendulous. Oh no, that's the Rocky Horror Show, I meant to say heavy, enticing and nearly ripe. So I picked a bagful.

This is what I did with my free harvest.



Actually I made more jelly than that, nearly 1.5kg I think although I've not weighed up, but jars are boring to photograph and this presentation nearly shows the luscious shinyness of the of the finished preserves.

To make, chop your apples up skins and all, just removing any bad or bruised bit and put in a thick bottomed pan with just enough water to cover the fruit. Gently bring up to a simmer and allow the apples to cook until they are soft and broken down. Mash them a bit to make sure all the pieces are fully cooked. Then set up your jelly bag and set the pulp to drip for several hours. Don't squeeze the bag if you want clear jelly.

After a few hours, measure your juice. I got 2 pints, 40 imperial fluid ounces and that's a bit over a litre. If you're American you'll have to make your own calculations from that.

For the two flavours I chose mint and chili but actually apple jelly can be flavoured with almost anything, so experiment!

For the mint jelly take a pint of juice, a pound of sugar, 60ml light vinegar (white wine or cider), the juice of a lemon and a quantity of mint. I used a quarter cup (yes, I know, it's about two tablespoons or 60ml by volume) of dried mint but I would have preferred fresh mint. If you have it chop it finely until you have about two tablespoons full... Some people add a drop of green colouring and so might I have done if I'd had any, but use something naturally derived and avoid the chemicals.

Dissolve the sugar in the juice, add the vinegar, lemon juice and mint and bring to a boil. Boil hard for as long as it takes to set, this will probably be more than ten minutes but not more than twenty. I test for set with a teaspoonful of mixture onto a cold plate. Allow to cool a little then push it gently with your fingertip. If wrinkles form ahead of the finger then it's ready to pot. This is the moment to add your colouring if you're using it.

Be very careful not to burn yourself in this next stage. Pot into hot, sterile jars and put the lids on immediately.

For the chili jelly use a pint of juice and a pound of sugar as above. I didn't add any lemon or vinegar and don't think it's needed. Add two teaspoonfuls of dried chili flakes at the start of cooking and proceed as for mint jelly. One problem I had with mine was the flakes floated to the top during cooling. You can get around this by allowing the jelly to cool slightly before bottling but I really like the security of hygiene gained by doing everything while it's boiling hot.

Use as relish for savouries and as a surprise in puddings.