Apple Jellies
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
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.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
these are beautiful little gems, tim!
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).
October 28th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
These look gorgeous! I’m definitely planning to make these soon.
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!
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.
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?
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!
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!
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.
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!
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 [...]
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/
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”.
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.
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!
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!
February 5th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Looks wonderful!
February 12th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
This looks really lovely and simple! How could you adapt to other fruits? Any ideas? Lovely photos!
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.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Thanks I will try that! :)
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
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. :)
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.
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? :)
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.
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?
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!
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
May 27th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Hi Melissa: cool the jellies at room temperature, I just left them on the counter.
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!
August 14th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
do you think this would work with peaches?
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!
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!
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…?
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…
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…
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
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!
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
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.
November 8th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Can I use a blender to puree the apples?
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!
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!
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!
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!
December 9th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Thanks for the good advice, Kim! I am sure people will appreciate the helpful tip.
December 14th, 2009 at 9:25 am
These look amazing
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?
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!
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!
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).