I was inspired by a post over at Supper in Stereo to try these Apples Jellies, a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks The Art of Simple Food. Like all of Alice Water’s recipes this one is simple, allows you to utilize local, seasonal ingredients and is delicious. It is a real treat to watch a few pounds of apples slowly turn into squares of candy. There is something about the preservation of food that makes me feel really self-confident and capable. These little treats are supposed to keep for up to a year. It is like canning, in candy form. Like canning, this sort of recipe, which preserves a seasonal product, feels like a good use of resources and makes me confident I can prepare for the future. It also makes me feel connected to the rich history of cooking and preserving that came before me. If nothing else, it is good to add new skills to your cooking repertoire.
I started off with a variety of apples from the farmers market. There were so many to choose from so I think I ended up with 4 varieties—Northern Spies for sure. The apples get cooked until they are a soft mess and your home smells like apple cider and autumn.
After some more cooking of the apple puree, you spread it in a pan to cool and then you go about your life. In our case we went to the Chicago International Film Festival. We saw Wendy and Lucy, which was a truly incredible film. Go see it if it comes to your town. Back to apples…
The next day you are rewarded with perfect little blocks of farmers market apples.
Apple Jellies
- 3 pounds of apples (about 8), washed, quartered and cored
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
Start by lightly rubbing an 8-by-8-inch square baking pan with a flavorless vegetable oil (canola or safflower). Line pan with parchment and lightly oil parchment.
In a large pot combine the apples and the water and cook over medium heat until soft, about 20 minutes.
Pass the mixture through a food mill or sieve. [I hope you have a food mill because I think trying to get this through a sieve sounds like hell. Although, Supper in Stereo tried this and they survived so maybe you will too.] Return the puree to the pot and stir in the sugar and lemon juice.
Simmer over low heat, stirring often, for about 1 hour. As the mixture cooks and reduces, it starts to thicken and bubble. Scrape the bottom of the pan while stirring to make sure nothing is sticking and burning. The puree is done when it holds a mounded shape. To be sure, you can chill a small amount on a plate in the freezer. It should appear and feel jellied.
roxane says:
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
these are beautiful little gems, tim!
hanne says:
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I’m excited that you made these! Aren’t they fun? Using a food mill is smart– but I don’t have one. If I’d read the recipe through before starting, I probably would have dismissed it, so I’m glad I tried, even though the sieve was a bitch.
With apologies for writing too much in the comments, I just want to say that I agree with the sentiment of self-sufficiency that you get when making things like this. It’s a good feeling, preserving things for the future (even if, like me, you end up eating all of it in one day).
Alejandra says:
October 28th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
These look gorgeous! I’m definitely planning to make these soon.
Daily Spud says:
October 29th, 2008 at 4:22 am
I am *so* making these for my mum – she has the most wonderful apple tree, still with a few apples left to harvest, and she loves jellies, so it simply has to be done!
Maggie says:
October 29th, 2008 at 6:22 am
These are beautifully done! I’ve been wanting to make them with quince for awhile. I love how easy your recipe sounds.
Lori says:
October 29th, 2008 at 7:28 am
These look so good. I have been wanting to make them forever. How did you get the pink coloring?
Tim says:
October 29th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Hi Lori, Since you are cooking the apples with their skins on, the peel ends up adding a nice pink color to the finished jellies. I was surprised by how beautiful the color was. Give them a try, they are really special!
Y says:
October 29th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Love the colour of these jellies! I own quite a few of Alice Waters’ books, but have yet to buy that particular one. Maybe I should!
Tim says:
October 29th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Y-it really is my favorite of her books. They are all really amazing, but this one I feel like I could use almost every day.
AndreaDomingas says:
November 1st, 2008 at 4:49 am
Oh, how beautifull! I still have some apples I got from a friend’s apple tree… so I found that your recipe is perfect for one more apple-projekt to post on my blog! Thanks for sharing!
The Jellies That Weren’t says:
November 1st, 2008 at 7:03 am
[…] was all in the name of a recipe for apple jellies, which caught my eye as it passed through my inbox the other day via TasteSpotting: homemade […]
Daily Spud says:
November 1st, 2008 at 7:18 am
So I did try making those jellies but (possibly because of a certain degree of impatience), they didn’t quite turn out as expected, though I had a tasty result nonetheless :) I’ve blogged a bit about it here: http://www.thedailyspud.com/2008/11/01/the-jellies-that-werent/
Tim says:
November 1st, 2008 at 7:39 am
Hi Daily Spud! I wonder what happened? Mine were so firm I didn’t even use the oven- they were fine after the initial drying. Hmmmmmm. A food mystery. But I am glad that you ended up with some delicious “apple butter”.
AndreaDomingas says:
November 5th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Hi, I am back! :)
I did the recipe and I had a bit of problem to get it hard. I thing it was to do with the sort of the apples. It took 2 hours in the oven to get harder and more two days to dry. But it is delicious! Thank you once more.
Daily Spud says:
November 5th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Maybe it did have something to do with the type of apple (I used Howgate Wonders) – in any case, the resulting apple butter was (and is) still tasty!
Tim says:
November 5th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Yeah, am wondering about the apples too. Mine firmed up so easily that I didn’t even need to put them in the oven. I used really firm cooking apples (like Jonathan and Northern Spy). I am glad that you guys still enjoyed these despite the problems with the process!
Jason says:
February 5th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Looks wonderful!
Lisa says:
February 12th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
This looks really lovely and simple! How could you adapt to other fruits? Any ideas? Lovely photos!
Tim says:
February 12th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Hi Lisa: In order to do this with other fruits, you may have to add pectin. This works so nicely with apples because they contain a high amount of natural pectin which allows them to thicken and become jelly-like. If you google “fruit jellies” you’ll find a bunch of different recipes containing a variety of other fruits, and they all contain pectin.
Lisa says:
February 13th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Thanks I will try that! :)
Heidi says:
February 17th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I tried making these because they really intrigued me, but they turned out nothing like I expected(maybe the kind of apples didn’t work as well or something). But I had some leftover apples that needed something done with them so I tried a version exactly alike except without the sugar and they are really good, though more like fruit leather. I posted it on my website at http://easy-aspie.blogspot.com/2009/02/thick-soft-fruit-leather.html Thanks for the recipe/idea :P
Brenda says:
February 28th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Yours is my favorite new food blog. I can’t get enough. These look so easy and fun. :)
kellypea says:
March 16th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I’d have trouble not inhaling this cut little things. I’ve seen other versions of them around, but apple? Oh my. Have to have some.
stacey says:
March 24th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
rather than putting the purée through a food mill or sieve, would it not be easier to just peel the apples in the first place? :)
Tim says:
March 24th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Hi Stacey! It would be easier, but the peels are what give these jellies their beautiful color. They’re important.
Mindy says:
March 30th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I am in the process of making them. I bought a food mill and gave it a try yesterday. I didn’t know if I should use the fine or medium disk-thing so I used medium and it pretty much came out like applesause. Your picture of the jellies looks much more opaque than mine is shaping out to be…what size of disk-thing did you use?
Tim says:
March 30th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Hi Mindy! It is probably too late, but I wanted to let you know that mine also looked like apple sauce at the point I put it through the mill. It changed colors and thickened quite a bit as it cooked. I hope it worked out!
Melissa says:
May 26th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
I love this website. With regard to this recipe, do you cool the mixture in the refrigerator or at room temp?
thanks
Tim says:
May 27th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Hi Melissa: cool the jellies at room temperature, I just left them on the counter.
kari says:
May 28th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
even if these didn’t taste fresh off the farm and delicious, i would still eat them because they are so pretty!
regarding the pectin thing, green apples have the highest amount of natural pectin of any ripe fruit. i used two when i made these, and mine turned out just jelly enough. thanks for sharing, tim!
mary says:
August 14th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
do you think this would work with peaches?
Tim says:
August 14th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Hi Mary: No, I don’t think this recipe would work with peaches. You would want to search for a recipe that had additional pectin added in order to attempt this with peaches. Apples have a high amount of natural pectin and so this sets up nicely on its own. Does that make sense? Let me know if you find a way of doing it!
Kitten says:
August 18th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Oh my god these look amazing, I can’t wait to try and make these. My mom is diabetic, but loves fruit slices, so if I could dust them with splenda instead I think these would be okay for her to eat, and so easy! Thanks for the great recipe!
pratibha says:
September 18th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Hi Tim,
Been reading so many food blogs, but I must say yours is very ver special. you respond to every question… so generous and patient. Thank you. I have one question too.
How long do these jelly squares keep, non-referigerated..? if the shelf life is short, any way to lengthen it…?
Tim says:
September 18th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Hi Pratibha: These last a very long time. Alice Waters says in the recipe they will last up to a year! They didn’t last that long for me, because we ate them all. They really are lovely, you should give them a try…
pratibha says:
September 18th, 2009 at 8:38 am
can you enable an e-mail subscribe..? Please.. ur site is gorgeous and I would hate to miss out on anything…
birdycake says:
October 3rd, 2009 at 7:30 am
hi tim! (loving your blog by the way)
i just stumbled on your site via google alice waters apple jellies problems! :)
here I am day 2… my jellies have not hardened! ofcourse the recipe says, washed, quartered, and cored… BUT did not say peeled… i peeled mine… could it be the reason why i have apple sauce still? I stuck them in the oven at 170… nothing…mmmm really dissappointed!
any thoughts?
^_^ ~birdycake
Tim says:
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:21 pm
hi birdycake: yeah. i think the peels are important. i also think you need to cook until very thick. don’t go by time, go by look/feel. sorry they didn’t work out this time!
birdycake says:
October 5th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
threw the lot out… too sweet too… so i will try again tomorrow… this time with peels :)
thanks for the suggestions tim! ~birdycake
Megan says:
October 15th, 2009 at 7:56 am
I have made the recipe twice – both times without the skins. There was no problem getting the apples to firm up into a jelly.
Ady says:
November 8th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Can I use a blender to puree the apples?
Tim says:
November 8th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Hi Ady,
No. Don’t use a blender. The reason you use a food mill is because it separates the skins from the apple and leaves you with the puree. If you don’t have a food mill you can try passing the cooked apples through a sieve, but this will be a lot of work. Good luck!
Ady says:
November 10th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Thanks for the feedback! i made them, but it didn’t jelly. I used only Red Delicious apples, so I believe that to be what caused it. I have lovely apple butter though! Will try again! Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
randa says:
December 6th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
woohoo! we have many many apples from an apple orchard gleaning adventure, and this will be perfect for holiday gifts. thanks for sharing!
Kim says:
December 9th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I’ve got this simmering on the stove right now, and it smells amazing. I added half a vanilla bean when I initially cooked the apple since I had it kicking around. For those of you who are considering doing this with just a sieve you might want to try this…My arm was getting tired and I was getting frustrated and I was only 1/4 of the way through the batch. Then I discovered that if you take the apple quarters and put them skin side up and press firmly with a spoon to smash the apple you can flip it over and scrape what is left of the flesh off the peel. I then took the apple flesh and blitzed it in the food processor before sifting it (tried just sifting it without the processor and it was still alot of work). Don’t forget to also run the peels through the sieve before discarding them. I got quite a bit of puree and it was very pink just from the peels! Thanks for the lovely recipe!
Tim says:
December 9th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Thanks for the good advice, Kim! I am sure people will appreciate the helpful tip.
Michelle says:
December 14th, 2009 at 9:25 am
These look amazing
Jessica says:
January 4th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
I am jazzed to try this recipe! I showed it to my husband (jazzed as well) and he insists we can run the cooked apples through a food processor and avoid the food milling bit. I feel like if this was the case, we’d all be eating apple jellies until our tummies were sore. Any opinion here?
Tim says:
January 4th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Hey Jessica! Sure, you can try that. I think what will happen is that they will be less pretty and have a different texture. Unless you have some sort of special food processor, there will still be bits of skin that remain which I am guessing will effect the final texture/appearance. But don’t let that stop you from trying! Good luck!
jjmcgaffey says:
January 8th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Oh, yum. I’ve been making apple butter, which is essentially this recipe, and I have way too much to eat and still some apples left. Now I’ve got something else to try. I may try Heidi’s fruit leather too – seems to me she cooked it a lot longer than you did (and you cook it longer than I do for the apple butter). longer=thicker, more solid. Anyway, yum!
Alejandra says:
January 12th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
I was roaming around your beautiful site today when I came across this post. I have such a love for fruit jellies!
Over the holidays, my boyfriend and I stayed at my parent’s house for a couple days and one night while watching TV, I opened up the fridge to find a snack and found a little box with 4 fruit jellies in them. I ate one and put the rest back, but it wasn’t long before I opened up the fridge door again for a second…and then a third. I finished the box before bed and my dad found the empty one on the table the next day. It turned out he had received them as a gift from a coworker who went to Paris in jan 2009! I couldn’t believe those delicious candies had lasted a full year in their fridge without being eaten. I can’t wait to make a batch and show him how easy they are to make at home.
The process, by the way, is almost exactly like the process for making quince paste (membrillo).
Audrey says:
March 20th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
What do they taste like? I imagine it’s like jellied apple juice, right? Could you add some spices to the recipe to make them cider-like?
Emma says:
April 18th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Would this work with pears?
Cindy says:
August 15th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
I made these last Fall and I still have a few sitting happily in an airtight container in the back of my fridge. They do indeed last a very long time. My kids love them in their lunchboxes. They are a nice change from the usual baked goods.
Thanks.
Cal Cakestall says:
September 19th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
I tried making these with windfall apples from our own tree. After ruthlessly cutting out any bad parts, I had 2lb of nice pieces of apple including skin; added the other ingredients as specified. I don’t have a food mill so once the apples were soft, I used a hand blender to get the mixture as smooth as possible and then sieved it – which was easy and only took moments.
After the specified hour, the mixture didn’t set even left overnight. I think it may have been because I was using eating apples not cookers. I simply heated it up again next morning and then cooked it some more, until it didn’t flow back when I dragged a spoon across the bottom of the pan (I was stirring constantly). Then it set beautifully and tasted great.
Emboldened by this success, I tried the same trick with damsons. (Small, very strong-flavoured British plums). Again, I had about 2lb weighed with their stones. Boiled them up, then sieved to get the stones out. Then cooked and cooked, stirring frequently at first and then all the time for the last half hour, until the mixture was really thick. Took the best part of 2 hours.
These were fantastic. Like the strongest, tartest jellies you could imagine. Wonderful.
Thanks.
Lizzy says:
October 11th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
This is my 2nd time trying to make these apple jellies. I do not know how you do it! I spent 10 hours on mine (and chronicled it on my blog http://whatcanyoueatblog.blogspot.com/) and still only one pan firmed up. It must be the type of apples. I used golden delicious and red delicious from our yard and even with 2 packets of pectin, and following your directions exactly, they didn’t firm up. However, they taste so good…even when they don’t turn out right…. that I am trying to talk myself out of doing it again next year!
Megan says:
October 19th, 2010 at 8:02 am
Mine didn’t firm up either. What kind of apples are best to use (keeping in mind that not every brand is available in all areas)?
Tim says:
October 19th, 2010 at 8:55 am
Hi Megan (and anyone else you had trouble with their apples firming up), I honestly don’t know. I have made these with multiple varieties of apples and have not had a problem. Sometimes it takes longer than other times but I have always gotten them to set. You should keep cooking on the stovetop until the puree is thick and mounds. Ignore the 1 hour suggestion if they are not thick. Strange that this recipe seems to work so easily for some and is such a disaster for others. I wish I could help more!
Talia says:
November 30th, 2010 at 4:58 am
I wonder if its possible to peel the apples and cook the apples and the peel together – it would then be much easier to blend/seive ?
Sara says:
December 19th, 2010 at 10:55 am
This is a great, old-fashioned sort of recipe. For those who want to peel the apples, don’t. Or at least, put them in cheesecloth with the apples. The skins have tons of flavor and produce a lovely color, but most importantly, they contain lots of pectin, which is what helps these set. A blender is not a good idea either.
Elizabeth says:
December 28th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Wow! These are awesome! I made a batch last night and just cut into mine; perfection!
If I toss them in sugar now and give them to people in a few weeks, will that compromise their texture?
Andrea says:
February 9th, 2011 at 11:40 pm
This is my second time making these and I completely love them! I’m using a tiny little heart-shaped cookie cutter for valentines day.
One tip – the first time I cut the apples as per the top picture, in big chunks. But that took forever to pass through the food mill. This time I cut them into a medium dice (1/2″ pieces) and they went through about 5 times as fast! Also, my cooking time is closer to 2 hours, but perhaps I am using a lower heat.
Love these!
Rachel says:
February 18th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
On first glance, these seem like they would be so hard to make but they seem simple! Once I get my hands on a food mill (the sieve does sound like hell!) and some more apples, I’ll definitely be trying this out.
annabanana says:
April 2nd, 2011 at 11:17 am
Hi Tim would a ricer work instead of a food mill or sieve? Looking forward to trying the recipe.
Tim says:
April 3rd, 2011 at 7:33 am
Hi Anna,
Hmmm. I’m not sure. I think the main problem will be the peels clogging the holes. It might be a bit of a struggle, but I bet you can get it to work. Let me know!
Patricia Scarpin says:
April 6th, 2011 at 6:17 am
It’s fall here in Brazil right now and apples are all over the place (I love them!). Cannot wait to try these jellies – they look amazing, Tim!
mairsydoats says:
May 20th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Hiya! Wow – these look amazing! I make apple butter (which is just about the same thing but with spices – can’t wait to try this!! What my family has always used to get the peels out is a conical metal sieve with a wooden pestle – I guess some people call it a china cap. Important to cook the apples a ton, so all the flesh comes off the peel. And truly, if it doesn’t set up for you, just cook it awhile longer and call it apple butter!
Corinne from Toronto, Canada says:
June 24th, 2011 at 10:18 am
Hello Tim. I am completely enamoured by your blog :) So much so that I was surfing your blog till 2:00 this morning! You have a wonderfully personable writing style and your photography is stunning. The piece de resistance are these gorgeous apple jellies. I discovered fruit jellies on my first trip to Paris 12 years ago and it’s been a love affair ever since. As I am typing this, the apple puree is reducing and thickening nicely. Can’t wait to sample it. Thank you for being such a kind and generous person. Cheers. P.S. I found your blog via Pinterest.
Tim says:
June 24th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Corinne, thanks so much for that sweet note! I am so happy you are enjoying the site, and I apologize for any lost sleep ; ) Those apple jellies are great, I really hope you enjoy them.
Rosie Kourian says:
July 31st, 2011 at 8:21 am
Hey, these remind me of my childhood when they were more or less the only candies apart from some chocolate… I loved them! Would like to give this recipe a try but was wondering if honey can be substituted for sugar, since I avoid sugar… Possibly the proportions will change?! Any ideas anyone?!
Thank you!
Tim says:
July 31st, 2011 at 10:49 am
Hi Rosie,
I don’t think that this would work with honey, but have not tried. If nothing else, the flavor will be completely different and not a fresh bright apple flavor. My main fear is that they will never set up, because the honey is adding moisture. If you give it a try, let us know!
David says:
August 5th, 2011 at 10:57 am
These look fantastic, and are reminiscent of membrillo that I get in Mexico. I am going to try these with pears, too, and maybe quince to make my own membrillo. Thanks for a beautiful post.
Winkie says:
August 14th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
Tim, In mexico they make candied squares like this out of pumpkin, sweet potatoes, pineapple and guava. Is the recipe the same or does the amount of juice in each particular fruit change the recipe?
Stephany says:
September 11th, 2011 at 11:22 pm
Just a comment on the comments. You should always be cooking your apples with the cores and skin when you are preserving. That is where all the good stuff is and you want that to get into your sauce, jelly, jam, etc.
Also the pectin in the skin makes it possible to make preserves without using the pectin in a box which is really mostly dextrose.
Cristel says:
October 25th, 2011 at 6:53 am
Oh my god, I just red the recepe and I love it, when I was young we somethimes bought this in the store, here(in Belgium) it’s called “pâte de fruit”(path de frwie) that’s french for fruit jelly. Because it was made with apples and pears (or apple with other fruit)they called it like that because it was not just one fruit. I will surtenly make them, but I will first get a foodmill(in french “passe vite”, “pass rapidly”)I live in flanders and we speak dutch, but I live near de frenchspeaking part of Belgium so we use a lot of french words. Thank you so very much for this recepe.
Dulce DeLeon says:
October 25th, 2011 at 10:00 am
Thanks for the recipe. Can I use Splenda or other sugar substitute?
Anna says:
October 27th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
Found this recipie when looking for things to make from quince pulp after juicing for jelly. (also extreemly high in pectin) Excited to try it with both the pulp from this season and the apples my MIL recently gave me.
Melissa says:
November 9th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
I made these and they turned out great!! I used a vitamix blender to blend them (skins and all) and it worked like a charm! thanks for the recipe
celia says:
November 18th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
wow, this looks great! it’s really interesting that you don’t need agar or gelatin in these.
Rachal says:
December 10th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
I don’t have a food mill, would I be able to achieve the same result if I use my food processor or my blender? Thanks in advance!
Tim says:
December 11th, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Hi Rachal- I haven’t tried with anything other than a food mill. You can pass the puree through a sieve if you don’t have a food mill.
kat says:
December 15th, 2011 at 9:22 am
I wish there would be a picture of how it’s supposed to look like after we need to cook it for an hour….. I have no idea what I’m doing….
Tim says:
December 15th, 2011 at 9:29 am
Hi Kat- Sorry that there isn’t a photo, but there is a pretty thorough description of what you are looking for. The puree should be thick enough to hold a mounded shape.
Camryn says:
December 23rd, 2011 at 10:16 am
Hey, I tried blending the apples then putting them through the sieve. It wasn’t a problem. I had to blend the apples with a little extra liquid, I used 2/3 cup of mandarin juice- which made simmering down take longer, but with a better blender the juice may not be necessary. There was a small amount of skin left behind, but a majority of it was soft and blended in more efficiently than I would have been able to send through a sieve.
I tired another recipe along side this with mandarin juice as the flavor base with extra pectin and found their consistency more like weak jello. Not enough texture. I would prefer re-using this recipe, adding extra juice and a little pectin.
Samantha says:
January 3rd, 2012 at 10:40 pm
Er, what did I do wrong here? I followed the recipe…and ended up with some really delicious apple sauce. It seems like the ratios are waaaaay off. Like I should have added twice the sugar? 3 pounds was a lot of apples – maybe 12 or so? What did I do wrong? (and how do I can apple sauce?)
Tim says:
January 4th, 2012 at 6:44 am
Hey Samantha, It is hard to say what went wrong. It sounds like it just needed to cook longer, apple sauce is definitely one of the steps along the way to jellies. Apples can vary a lot in moisture content and you might need to cook for more than an hour to get them down to the right point. The recipe is definitely correct, I have made it several times as have others. Next time, I would just not stop cooking until the jelly really mounds (test in freezer to make sure it is “jellied”).
Samantha says:
January 4th, 2012 at 10:06 am
Ok, thanks. I saved the applesauce in my fridge. Do you think it will work if I just start cooking it again? I am determined to make these jellies! :)
Tim says:
January 4th, 2012 at 10:35 am
I would give it a try. I think you could still get it to work!
Melanie Ashton says:
January 11th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
Wow, these look gorgeous. I’m putting them on my to-do list for next Autumn. Thanks for sharing!
Jesse says:
March 4th, 2012 at 7:36 am
I love these! Made these last night and the recipe worked great!
I don’t have a food mill so I peeled the apples in the beginning and just threw the peels in during the first step when the apples are boiling. Once they softened enough, I picked out the peels (I have a crank apple peeler so I had nice long strings of peel that were easy to pick out). This was much easier than trying to separate the apple from the peel with a sieve and I still got a nice pink color.
I ran the apples through my VitaMix for a few minutes and this got them incredibly smooth. I still ran it through a sieve, but I suspect I didn’t need to; next time I’ll skip that.
I had to boil the mixture on the stove for 1.5 hours until it started to mound. It set up really quickly and is now just finishing drying.
Besides improvising for my lack of a food mill, I followed your recipe exactly and it worked perfectly. Next time I’m going to leave out the sugar for a tart jelly!
Tim says:
March 4th, 2012 at 10:02 am
Hi Jesse- Thanks for checking in, I am glad you had a good time with the recipe. For the record, these won’t work without the sugar. The sugar (along with the lemon juice) is what is preserving them.
Ashley says:
October 5th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
I made these a few days ago, and like others, I had to cook it a lot longer than an hour to get it to hold a mounded shape. It took me over 4 hours I think (woah!). But these turned out really tasty…I posted it on my blog with a link back to your post. Thanks for the inspiration!
Tim says:
October 5th, 2012 at 6:20 pm
Hey Ashley- Obviously I must have lucked out with my apples in the past. I am going to try this again and see what happens. It really didn’t take that long, the few times I made these. Thanks for checking in!
Mar says:
January 29th, 2013 at 6:25 am
I have made apple jellies for over 30 years. I always add plain gelatin to the apples. But my recipe adds more sugar, doesn’t have to cook as long, and you get a bigger yield. Try mixing 2 tablespoons (2 packets) plain gelatin with the sugar before stirring into pulp. Note, this is NOT flavored Jello!
Tim says:
January 29th, 2013 at 6:47 am
Hi Mar! Thanks for the recommendation, but I think the beauty of this recipe is that you do not need to add gelatin (which would also add animal product to this recipe).
Sarah says:
April 21st, 2013 at 2:03 pm
hi Tim – your recipe is circulating on pinterest! (that’s what brought me here) I haven’t tried it yet (definitely going to!), but after reading all your comments, I have an idea about what might be causing some jellies not to set: humidity. I live in Seattle and whenever I make something finicky (like French macarons, for example), I always have to take the dampness of my climate into account.
For those who are living in damp or humid climates, perhaps this is the key factor that is causing the failure? I made a beautifully dark apple butter last summer; friends and family proclaimed it the darkest, strongest apple butter they’d ever had. It took me about 14 hours of cooking over two days (with constant stirring throughout the last five hours – truly, a labour of love!) to get it to the right consistency. So, perhaps climate is a factor in how these things set up?
When I try your recipe, I am going to tie up the cores (with the seeds) in cheesecloth and cook the apples with them; I will be able to remove them easily before I pass the apple mass through my trusty food mill. The naturally-occurring pectin contained in apples is located in the skins and the SEEDS, so cooking the apples with the cores (I may save the bag and replace it for the second round of cooking as well) will increase the pectin content in the mass and help improve the chances of a proper set. With all the moisture in Seattle’s air, my jellies are going to need that extra pectin boost!
For those who are ending up with applesauce rather than apple jellies, I would also suggest picking up some low-sugar pectin (canning companies like Ball now sell it in jars, which is far more price-effective than those little packets; I personally have had ZERO luck with Pomona’s Universal Pectin as thickener), sifting a tablespoon or two together with 1/4 c. of sugar, and whisking it in to the cooled applesauce before heating it up and trying again. If you add the pectin without sugar, or add pectin to a hot apple mass, you are likely to end up with little cooked jelly-clods of pectin rather than getting the pectin to incorporate into your mass. So some quick work with the whisk and a cooled sauce will be key here, and should do the trick if your apples just won’t gel.
Just my two cents – hope it helps those who are struggling!
janine says:
December 31st, 2013 at 1:46 am
Just wondering, why do you need to use the sieve/food mill? Is it to remove water or the peels or something?
Emma says:
October 1st, 2014 at 7:01 pm
Got here because I’m making these right now and have been googling “mounding shape.” What does that mean? Maybe I’ll know it when I see it, but if someone wants to offer further clarification or explain the freezer test more, that would be great.
KS says:
November 14th, 2014 at 10:45 pm
Used Red Delicious apples. Don’t own food mill so food processed, push through sieve with back of wooden spoon, food processed what was remaining in sieve, pushed through sieve again, repeat. Many of the apple skins never did get pushed through, but the color from them definitely boiled out into the puree. After cooking the apples in a 1 cup of water to soften, I wish I had drained them before food processing/pushing through sieve, or, if it isn’t a good idea to drain that apple water because you lose the natural pectin, then I wish I had only used a 1/4 (or even an 1/8) cup instead of a full cup so there would have been less to boil off to get to the “mounding” consistency. Right now I am at the two hour mark. The puree is getting closer and closer…but small test batches do not feel jellied after cooling in the freezer and I am waiting until I am 100% sure I see a “mound.”
KS says:
November 16th, 2014 at 2:12 pm
Update: I think I figured out what “mounding” meant. When I first started reducing the puree, it flowed like applesauce. After 3 HOURS simmering, it piled up wherever I put it and did not flow on its own. It never passed the freezer test—I could put a blob of it on a plate and even before freezing it would hold its shape, put it in the freezer for a few minutes, and it would come out with the same consistency it had before—but it never felt like a jelly candy. Even though it wasn’t passing the freezer test, I took it off the stove because 1.) it had stopped bubbling at all (I guess there wasn’t any water left to boil off?) 2.) there were dark patches like it was starting to burn and I had it on the lowest possible burner setting. It had reduce in volume by at least 80% from when I started simmering.
Woke up the next morning—zero change from when it came out of the pot. Put it in the oven at 150 for an hour, no change other than developing what tasted like fruit leather skin on top. Don’t want fruit leather, want fruit jellies! This is when I decided my apples didn’t have enough natural pectin. Mixed half a cup of sugar with 2 TBS pectin, sprinkled over the fruit butter I had returned to the pot. Stirred, allowed to simmer and boil for about ten min, poured into pan and let sit for a few hours.
Set firmly enough to cut this time, rolled in sugar. The flavor is very good and they are firm enough to be cut into squares. In the future, I will follow this recipe only through the first step (softening apples and pushing through sieve) then I will switch to a different recipe, for the remainder. I am not a sophisticated enough cook to know whether my apples have enough pectin, and I wasted too much time and electricity figuring out the answer was no!