zxcvbob > wrote in message >...
> zxcvbob wrote:
> > I picked 5 pounds of crabapples yesterday and am gonna juice them today
> > to make jelly. The SureJell and Certo boxes both say to remove the
> > stems and blossom ends before cooking the apples to extract the juice.
> > (I'm gonna simmer and mash these for 15 minutes, not use the steam
> > juicer). What if I don't remove the stems and blossom ends? These are
> > small crabapples, I don't know the variety, they are red skinned with
> > rose-colored flesh, and about 3/4" to 1 1/4" in diameter. It would be
> > *way* too much work to clean these.
> >
> > I just wanna wash 'em, pick out the leaves and loose stems, and boil
> > them (the apples, not the loose stems and leaves).
> >
> > I may try juicing the next batch in the steamer and see what difference
> > it makes.
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Bob
>
>
> I picked out the dead blossoms with my thumbnail as a sorted the
> crabapples, then washed them, and put them in a big stockpot. I added
> about 5 1/2 cups of water, brought them to a boil, simmered for 5
> minutes, and started mashing them with a potato smasher.
>
> It looks like mixture of ketchup and applesauce. There's no way this
> will drip through a jelly bag -- and not all the crabapples have even
> broken up yet. If I run this thru a food mill, I will get sour red
> applesauce.
>
> Do I need to add a bunch more water? Is it cheating to add frozen
> concentrated apple juice if I water it down too much trying to get it to
> drip?
>
> Bob

Hey Bob,

Sounds like you're having about the same problem I had 2 weeks ago.
Here's what I did:

After cooking down the apples and ending up with 'ketchup and
applesauce', I forced it all through a strainer in small batches to
get out the big chunks (skins, core, blossom ends, whatever) and ended
up with pretty pink (but VERY tart) applesauce. I also had a high
pectin problem (read the 'too much pectin thread') and like you said,
there's no way it'll drip through a jelly bag. So I added a little
more water, not much, and then stuck it in the jelly bag in small
batches. It took about 4 days, 24 hours each batch, but I did get
juice. And because of the high pectin, it's cloudy, so squeezing the
bag didn't really make a difference.

Now all you have to do is decide if it's worth all that work. Me,
well, I got them free, but after all that work there's no way I'm
throwing it out. However, I was so sick of looking at crabapple mush
for 4 days that I froze it all. I'll do something with it later.

Have fun,

Kathi