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Crab Apples

Bicycle Lee

By Bicycle Lee
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Bicycle Lee

Bicycle Lee

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So my crab apple tree is starting to produce its yearly bounty and rather than just letting them fall and become mush, I was thinking that maybe this year I would try and use them...but.....for what? Does anybody have any good ideas for how to use crab apples?

"Make me some mignardises, &*%$@!" -Mateo

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fifi

fifi

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Echoing what jackal10 said.

I lived in south Louisiana for a few years, in Mayhaw Man's part of the world. I used to watch the roadside in the spring when they were blooming, remember the spot so I could come back.

For the life of me I can't think of another use for them other than jelly.

I did experiment with mixing them with other fruits for jelly. The straight stuff has a pleasant flavor, just not too distinctive. But you can take advantage of the natural pecten to boost other ingredients. One time, I combined the crabapples with elderberries and made a beautiful jelly. I made it for gifts and labeled it "Swamp Jelly". It was a big hit.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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KatieM

KatieM

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Ditto the jelly sentiment. Not sure what else they're really good for. My dad has a tree right next to the compost heap, so it always overproduces. The jelly is really good, though. And if it doesn't set up right, it makes a very good syrup for pancakes and stuff. We like it on Aebelskiver.

"First rule in roadside beet sales, put the most attractive beets on top. The ones that make you pull the car over and go 'wow, I need this beet right now'. Those are the money beets." Dwight Schrute, The Office, Season 3, Product Recall

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momlovestocook

momlovestocook

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I have some crabapple "mush" draining right now to make jelly tomorrow. I've been looking for recipes other than jelly myself. If you google crab apple pickles, you will come up with a recipe that uses whole crabapples. My sister in law ate them when she was little. I bought the spices to try them-maybe next week. I also saw a recipe for crab apple pepper jelly. Since I have some hot peppers to use up, I may try that as well. I know I bookmarked the recipe but can not think of the source at the moment.

Sandra

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jsolomon

jsolomon

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Crabapple butter is simply the best. My mother has a recipe for baked applebutter that works remarkably well.

Edit to add: I just got off of the phone with my mother (bad news call, but not related to eG) What she said is she simply uses a normal stovetop recipe and then places everything in a very slow oven (225-250) and cooks it til a spoonful placed on a saucer doesn't have a ring of seeped off liquid around it.

I googled a bit and didn't find any great recipes, but there are some out there somewhere.

Edited by jsolomon (log)
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I always attempt to have the ratio of my intelligence to weight ratio be greater than one. But, I am from the midwest. I am sure you can now understand my life's conundrum.

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Carrot Top

Carrot Top

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I did experiment with mixing them with other fruits for jelly. The straight stuff has a pleasant flavor, just not too distinctive. But you can take advantage of the natural pecten to boost other ingredients. One time, I combined the crabapples with elderberries and made a beautiful jelly. I made it for gifts and labeled it "Swamp Jelly". It was a big hit.

:laugh: Fantastic name! I bet you could package that up and sell it to Cracker Barrel for their stores and become a millionaire! :wub:

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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This recipe for spiced crabapples is very tasty.

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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And this recipe for spiced crabapples is for canning them.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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and this one for sweet & sour spiced crabapples is slightly different.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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And finally, if you check the recipes on this site you will find a lot of apple recipes.

The recipe for Apple Custard Pudding is excellent made with crabapples.

I have made it many times and it never fails to get lots of compliments.

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Adam Balic

Adam Balic

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so the consensus seems to be to use them for their pectin. Is it true that most of the pectin is found in the skins? Could you just extract the pectin?

Pectin is found throughout the fruit.

There are many varieties of crab apples, some are just pretty, but many have an excellent flavour, so don't just think of them as a pectin source.

The Art and Mystery of Food

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momlovestocook

momlovestocook

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crabapple hot pepper jelly

Here's the link for the crapapple hot pepper jelly(hope it works).

I made it last night and it's good. Sweet and hot at the same time. The green peppers and the red of the crab apples would make a nice festive christmas present.

Also, if you do a search for crab apples on the site with the recipe, the apple butter is there too.

Sandra

ps made the plain old crab apple jelly this week. I'll be making more this weekend.

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saskanuck

saskanuck

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You can also make wine using crabapples or apples. We do this every year, as we have 2 huge old apple trees that produce more than anyone can reasonably use.

Our apple wine is a dry white, with 12% alcohol content, and many people we know don't realize it's been made from apples unless we tell them. You can tell that it's not a grape-based wine, but it's really surprisingly good. It does not taste like a typical homemade sweet wine, but rather a white table wine.

As a matter of fact, we've just finished harvesting the apples this week and will be making apple wine this weekend.

Edited by saskanuck (log)
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I don't mind the rat race, but I'd like more cheese.

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TJHarris

TJHarris

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Years ago, I made a crabapple-serano chili chutney. Seasoned it with a little ginger and rice vinegar. Served this with several pork dishes as well as a couple of heartier fish.

Tobin

It is all about respect; for the ingredient, for the process, for each other, for the profession.

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  • 1 year later...
Abra

Abra

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I'm bumping this up to see whether anyone recognizes these particular crabapples and knows whether they're worth working with. After 2 years of tent caterpillars, we have a bumper crop and I'd like them not to just fertilize the flower bed below the tree. They're super sour as they are.

gallery_16307_2558_43284.jpg

I have my (very large) hand in there for size reference. Anyone?

Abra

Blogging our French adventures at French Letters

My first eG foodblog

My second eG foodblog

Chufi and I blog in France

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iguana

iguana

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I'm bumping this up to see whether anyone recognizes these particular crabapples and knows whether they're worth working with.  After 2 years of tent caterpillars, we have a bumper crop and I'd like them not to just fertilize the flower bed below the tree.  They're super sour as they are

I have my (very large) hand in there for size reference.  Anyone?

Do they taste good? If they taste fruity and interesting (albeit sour) then they're probably worth trying in a batch of jelly. The crabapples from my tree look similar. Start with at least 5lb of apples-- I made a micro-scale batch of jelly from 2lbs and ended up with only 2c of jelly!

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Poffertjes

Poffertjes

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I got a bunch of them in my CSA delivery last week. Still haven't done anything with them, but George, the friendly owner of August, a Grocery store, down the street my my house told me that I could make sauce out of them, a la apple sauce.

Peel'em, core'em, cook them down and the run it through a mill.

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