Food: Apple Jelly

It is that time of year again... so, I figured I'd share another tutorial.

To make Apple Jelly you need apple juice. Now, you could probably use bottled juice or even frozen juices, but we use the real thing.

How exactly do you we get the apple juice?

Peel, core, and slice your apples, cook them in a little water til they are tender, and then strain the juice. You can see photos of the process on my Applesauce tutorial.

You can also boil your apple peels and make jelly from those if you'd like to do that. Just make sure you wash the apples before you peel them. Boil your peels and run them through a food mill. Save the juice. Toss the pulp out to the chickens.

Get your jars ready...

Be sure to sterilize them.

There are several methods... you can sterilize them by running them through your dishwasher I've heard or by complete immersion in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes and kept hot until ready to be filled.  Someone even suggested heating them in the oven at 250. However, using the dishwasher with a heated dry would probably be the quickest and easiest way to do it.

Wash your lids and rings. Cover with simmering water before placing them on the jars. 

For your jelly, you will need...

5 level cups of juice

1 pkg of Jel-Ease

7 level cups of sugar

The recipe says to get 5 cups of juice you will need 4 lbs of apples to cook in 4 cups of water. This should yield 7 1/2 cups of jelly.  

Since we just save our juice from the applesauce making process, we don't really measure the amount of apples we had to begin with. We just save the juice in a large jug and then measure the juice out to make the jelly. 

Measure your sugar out in a bowl, set to the side. 

Put your juice in a cooker, stir pectin into the juice, place on heat and bring it to a full boil. Stir continuously. 

Now add in your sugar, slowly. 

Bring it back to a full rolling boil. {{It can not be stirred down}}

Stir constantly. 

Use a timer and boil for 2 minutes. 

Remove from heat and skim off the foam if you wish. 

Fill your hot jars. Leave 1/4 inch of headroom. 

Now wipe any juice from the rims of the jars and quickly put on your lid and ring while the jam is hot. You may need to hold the jar with a dishtowel while you put the lid on. They say fingertip tight.

The Ball Blue Book of Preserving says the next step would be to process the jars for 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. To do this you just put the jars on the canning rack and lower them into simmering water. Make sure they are covered by at least one inch of water. Cover with lid and heat to a steady boil for the amount of time on the recipe. Turn off the heat and let the jars stand in the water for 5 minutes. Remove jars from water and sit them upright on a towel on the counter for 12 hours. 

Now with that being said, I normally don't do the processing at the end. We eat our homemade jelly so fast there really isn't a need for it. After we put the lids on we leave them sitting on the stove top. In about half an hour they jars should be sealed. When they seal the tops will be flat or even look like they are caved in a smidge. There will be no bump on top and it won't make a popping sound when you touch them. If the jars haven't sealed, and the jam is still hot, turn the jar upside down for about 15 minutes. It should seal. Then we put in the fridge and forget it. But you may want to do what book calls for if you aren't going to eat yours straight away.

That's it. Enjoy! 

I'm sharing this post at Farmgirl Friday.

Food: How to Make Homemade Applesauce and Apple Butter

Last year, I posted my Homemade Apple Butter and Fried Apple Pie recipe and tutorial. Since then, I've had several people ask if we make our own apple sauce or do we buy store bought? Well, you can do it either way, but we like to make our own. So, I figured I'd show  you the actually process of making apple sauce and how to turn it into apple butter. 

REMEMBER I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL. I AM LEARNING TOO AND CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE IF YOUR APPLESAUCE OR APPLE BUTTER FLOPS. LOL.  {Mom has been doing this for over 50 years, so I am pretty sure it won't.}

First, you will need to pick yourself some apples. 

Now use your handy dandy apple peeler. This one peels, slices, and cores the apple all at once. This baby is a jewel. My parents got it in Liberty, Ky at the Amish village. But they do sell them at our local farm supply store also. 

Once the apple has been peeled, cored, and sliced, cut the apple in half and cut off any bruises or pieces of peel that may have been missed. 

Drop your apples into a bowl of salt water. We don't measure the salt, just put a handful in. Make sure to push the apples down into the water.  This just keeps the apples from turning really red while you are working.

Once your bowl is full, drain, rinse, and put them into a cooker with maybe a quart to half a gallon of water so they don't stick.

Cook the apples until they are tender. You will want to bring them to a boil and then turn the heat down and let them boil gently for maybe 20 minutes. Mom never really times this part. You will be able to tell when they are soft while stirring them. Stir every now and then so they don't scorch.

Scoop the apples out and into a strainer. Drain most of the juice. A little is ok.

You can save the juice in the fridge to make Apple Jelly. 

Once you have drained the juice, put the apples into the food mill and grind them into applesauce.

Sorry I didn't get a better picture of the actual sauce. You can see it here in the cup. My sister was measuring out the applesauce to make apple butter.

Now, if you want to just keep your applesauce plain, you can put it in tubs and into the freezer. You could also can it. Ball Preserving tells you how, here.

We don't eat a lot of plain applesauce, so we make ours into apple butter. To do this, get yourself some jars. Toss them (gently, lol) in the dishwasher. Don't forget the detergent. Put that sucker on HOT water and a heated dry. 

Now put your lids, and rings in your water bath canner. The water just needs to be simmering.

 Measure your applesauce back into your big cooker. Mom uses 16 cups of applesauce and 12 cups of sugar. You put 3/4 a cup of sugar to every 1 cup of applesauce. Now add in 5 Tbsp of Cinnamon and Cloves to taste. Mom uses 1-3 tsp. We used 3 tsp in this batch.

Now, bring this to a boil, stir a lot. You do not want it to stick. Reduce the heat a little and boil for at least 25 minutes. You want to be able to raise the spoon up out of the apple butter and for it to stick to the spoon. You don't want it runny. If it is still too thin after 25 minutes, continue to boil a few more minutes.

After your apple butter is done, carefully put into your sterile jars.

It is decision making time. If you are going to store your apple butter in the fridge, put on your lids and rings and turn the jars upside down on a towel for 5 minutes. Then turn them back upright. Your lids should start sealing quick. 

If you would rather store the apple butter on shelves, you will want to can it. To do this, put the jars in your boiling water canner with at least 1 inch of water over the jars at all times. Boil for 15 minutes. (adjust for altitude)

That is it. Enjoy!

I'm sharing this post at Farmgirl Friday and From the Farm.

Food: Homemade Apple-Butter and Fried Apple Pies Recipe and Tutorial

If you haven't noticed from all my other posts, I love my Mom and Dad. I have fantastic parents. Truly, I couldn't be more blessed.  Anywho.. lol.. My awesome parents made homemade apple-butter the other day and gave us a big jar. In our family apple-butter = fried apple pies! Yum-o!

Doesn't it look Delicious? 

Apple-Butter

The general rule is 3/4 cup sugar per 1 cup applesauce. Then cinnamon and cloves to taste. But.. if you would like the exact amounts; Mom and Dad used 16 cups of applesauce, 12 cups of sugar, 5 Tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cloves. Then boil for approximately 25 minutes. If it seems too thin, boil a little longer.

Once you have the apple-butter made, if you'd like to make fried apple pies, here is how I do it.

Spread yourself out a piece of wax paper and rolling pin, cover with flour. For the crust I use canned biscuits. Not the big thick biscuits. I use the small cheap-o ones. Roll it out, add the apple butter, and fold in half. Once folded, I use a fork and seal the edges. If it sticks, add a little flour to the fork. When I am done with that side I flip it over and go over the edges on the other side, just to be safe. 

Now, get yourself some oil in cooker. Some people use a skillet, but I use a deep cooker just in case the oil splashed. Once the oil is good and hot, put your pie in, you can do a couple at time if you want. Just make sure they aren't touching. Fry on one side til brown, but not hard, then turn over and brown on the other side.  You want to make sure they are done, but still soft.

Get them out and lay them on a paper towel to catch the grease. We like to top with powdered sugar, but that is optional. 

Enjoy! 

I am sharing this post at Cowgirl Up, Rural Thursday, Farm Girl Blog Fest, and Morristribe !

Food: Apple Dumplings Recipe and Tutorial

Apple Dumplings are one of my favorite Fall foods. I consider it a Fall food because up until the last couple of years, I had no idea how to make them, and would only have them in the Fall at the local Festival. My sister, Missy, was given a recipe from a friend and we've been making them on a regular basis ever since.They are so easy. You can't mess this up.

To make Apple Dumplings, you will need:

1 (16 ounce) can refrigerated flaky biscuit dough

4 apples - peeled, cored and halved {We use Granny Smith but sometimes Gala}

1 cup white sugar

1 cup water {We use Mtn. Dew instead}

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

After you gather your ingredients, peel and core your apples. I don't have an apple corer so I just cut them in half or into 1/4s and slice out the core with a regular knife. Then preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

{I forgot to peel the apples until I started wrapping them up for the photos and had to go back and peel them.}

Get yourself a piece of wax paper and sprinkle it with flour. Lay your biscuit down, sprinkle on some more flour and roll it out with a rolling pin.

It should look something like this.

Now lay your peeled apple on top and fold the biscuit around the apple.

Sorta like this.

Now lay them folded side down onto a very buttered baking dish.

Combine sugar, water {or Mtn. Dew}, melted butter, vanilla and cinnamon.

Now pour the mixture all over the biscuit covered apples. Spoon it from the pan onto the apples several more times until they are smothered in it.

Now just bake those babies about 35-40 minutes until they are golden brown and serve them up with some French Vanilla ice cream.

YUM!

I am sharing this post at Homestead Revival's Barn Hop. Stop by and check out the other entries.