Spurred on by the season of fruitfulness, I’ve been indulging in some preserving over the last week or so. I thought I’d share a couple of recipes in this post and the next. Like all my recipes they are almost infinitely adaptable.
First off here’s a recipe for Crab Apple Cheese. We have an ornamental “ballerina” (ie. columnar) crab apple tree in the garden, which produces large (for a crab) red fruit which I’ve always assumed were of no use. It is over 30 years old and now getting quite tall, but before we decided to take it out in favour of something more useful, I figured we ought to see if the fruit were of any use. And they are! So this recipe has probably saved the tree from the axeman.
Now I can’t be bothered to faff around allowing cooked fruit to strain through a muslin bag overnight to make jelly, so I did the easy version and made a “cheese” – which is much the same as jelly except you get a cloudy product, and that’s fine by me.
Sweet & Spicy Crab Apple Cheese
Based on an original recipe by the late Mary Norwak.
Makes 5-6 1lb jars.
Ingredients
- 1.5kg crab apples (prepared weight)
- 300ml sweet cider
- 300ml water
- 1 lemon, cut into eighths [a]
- white or light soft brown sugar
- 1tsp ground cloves
- 1tsp ground nutmeg
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
Method
- Cut the washed apples into pieces (halves/quarters is fine) removing any damaged parts but without peeling or coring.
- Put the apple into a pan with the water, cider and lemon.
- Simmer until the fruit is very soft.
- Press the cooked fruit through a sieve. You’re aiming to be left with only the dry fruit fibres, skins, pips and lemon peel [b].
- Weigh the resulting puree and return it to the pan.
- Add the same weight of sugar as there is puree (ie. for every 100gm puree add 100gm sugar).
- Stir in the sugar over a low heat until all the sugar dissolves.
- Add the spices and bring to the boil.
- Reduce the heat; simmer and stir continuously until the mixture is thick [c].
- Test the set as for jam [d].
- Once you reach the set point, pour into sterilised jars [e] (a jam funnel helps here) and put on the lids immediately.
- This should store in a cool dark place as long as home-made jam.
Notes
- The lemon should ensure there is enough pectin in the mix to get a good set, but not too much that the flavour will come through.
- This is arm-aching work as you need the residue as dry as possible. If you have more than one sieve try to engage a helper.
- This is tedious as it may take quite a time, but you do not want the mix sticking to the bottom of the pan. And be careful as the thickening mix can spit, it is very hot and can stick to the skin.
- If you have a sugar thermometer the jam should set well when the mix reaches 105°C. Otherwise use the saucer test. Put a saucer in the fridge at the beginning of your cooking time. Once you think the jam has reached setting point or has thickened, put a teaspoonful on the cold saucer and leave for a minute or so. Now push the test jam with your finger; if it wrinkles well it should set OK. Alternatively hold the saucer vertically; if it is set the jam will not run off the saucer (but the whole blob may glide downwards as a whole). For more see, for example, https://www.kilnerjar.co.uk/setting-points.
- Sterilising jars. Wash, rinse and dry the jars and lids. 30 minutes before required put the jars in the oven at 140°C. If possible warm the lids. When needed put the jars onto a wooden board (the heat may damage your nice worktop). When filled put the lids on the jars as quickly as possible – you’ll need an ovenproof mitt/glove to hold the jars – and then go round again to ensure the lids are tight. As the jam cools a slight vacuum will be created in the jar which will help preserve the contents.
- This is excellent for a sweet course or served with pork, ham, duck or cheese. Oh and if you make it too runny, then use as an ice cream topping. Indeed it is sufficiently sweet you could even use it as jam!
My cheese set solid. We had a small amount left after filling the jars and put it in a ramekin. Once cold you could turn the ramekin upside down and the cheese didn’t fall out! We road-tested it at lunch today with a good cheddar cheese, and it was universally acclaimed as “excellent”.