B E B E R E

Comfort me with apples...

Did the annual pilgrimage to my two little crabapple trees over on McGrath. Since we were about a month earlier than we were last year, I could have easily collected twice what I did, just didn't want to overdo things. There's only so much jelly/butter/sauce a girl needs.

A number of passersby stopped and asked us what we were doing, what we were picking. I explained that though the fruit from these trees was no good raw; that in fact, you could get sick on it. If one cooked the apples in a decent amount in sugar, however, it was delicious. I wonder if there will be competition next year?

In my pantry sits a Vinfen toteful of happy apples that will need to be washed, stemmed, quartered. Somehow this week, they'll be rendered into juice, cooked into jelly, run through a foodmill, and then spiced into applesauce. It's a fair bit of work, but very easy and pleasant (to me, anyway).

Simple Tart Apple Jelly

Wash, cut off stems and blossom ends, then quarter apples.
Place in a pan with enough water to reach top of fruit.
Cook, uncovered until fruit is soft. Put the juice through a jelly bag (2-3 layers of cheesecloth). Cook juice with 3/4 to 1 cup sugar until reaching jelly stage. Pour into hot, sterilized jars. *Don't cook more than four cups at a time.*