Nothing steals the show quite like these darlings of the fruit world. So versatile! In essence, they are the “little black dress” of cooking. From salads and desserts to meat dishes — these incredible edible pomaceous fleshy orbs do more than solve that da Vinci Code.
To begin, eat one apple.
Okay… not really. But I would. I’m craving an apple just looking at these pictures and I would totally go get one if it wouldn’t get my keyboard all sticky. One cannot have a gummy keyboard when typing about VERY important things like how to make your very own pectin. That’s right… you can kick that Sure-Gel to the curb and still create lovely all-natural fruit jellies. How about that for cool?
Ingredients for making Apple Pectin:
- 7 large tart apples (I use granny smith but other varieties may be substituted)
- 4 cups water
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
There. Now you’re done. Enjoy.
Well, not quite. But it really is very easy. Just wash the apples, cut them into pieces (but do not peel), and place them in a thick-bottomed kettle. Add water and lemon juice. Boil for 40 minutes and then press the contents of the kettle through a jelly or muslin bag. Whistle a happy tune. Why not?
Now strain the juice through a flannel bag without pressure back into the kettle.
Boil juice rapidly for about 15 minutes. Pour the boiling juice into sterilized canning jars and pop on the lids. Seal. Process 5 minutes in a boiling water canner.
Voila! Your very own apple pectin!
This recipe makes 4 half-pint jars (I finally remembered to tell you how much of something one of my recipes makes — I’m so proud).
Add 1 cup apple pectin for each cup of fruit juice used in making your jelly. Usually 3/4 cup sugar to 1 cup of the combined juices is correct. In a future post, I’ll teach you how to test fruit juice to determine the level of natural pectin. Promise.
Giveaway coming soon!
rachel - aw. I love how homemade YOU are. I love how you are so versatile and you make me think of a prairie princess 🙂 Any ideas for strawberries. Many grow here in our neck of the woooods and Ive been buying them and just eatin um. But maybe I should try something else more homemade. lol.
RazorFamilyFarms.com - I love strawberries! I like putting them in a salad (fresh lettuce, feta cheese, glazed salmon, sliced strawberries, and candied pecans) — YUM!!!
Strawberry preserves are easy enough to make. I could certainly show a tutorial post some time. 🙂
Blessings!
Lacy
Aunt Laura - Can we have THAT for dinner next time I babysit?? OMG that sounds so yummy right now.
Rosa - That first picture is amazing! I love apples and eat one every day (an apple a day keeps the doctors away, right?). Wow, you stun me with your unusual recipes! I’ve never made pectin…
Cheers and have a lovely weekend,
Rosa
Simple Livin' gal - Hi Laura! You must mean the salad! It is utterly delicious stuff!! We will eat it soon!
Rosa — Thank you so much for the compliment! I love taking pictures and using Josh’s fancy-pants camera never fails to produce at least one or two shots that are worth posting. Thank you for friending me on Flickr! We can be camera buddies!
Blessings!
Lacy
Aunt Laura - Yes, the salad, I really don’t want to eat the pectin for dinner!
elra - I always look for apple pectin for my fruit pate. It seems pretty hard to find. Glad you posted the recipe. But, I wonder wether I can use this to make (French) pate de fruit?
Cheers,
elra
elra - Lacy my dear, thank you so much for the recipe. I must try it!
Xoxo,
elra
Kath - I’ve never used pectin before. It looks relatively easy…..like the cheese making process!!!
You are such an inspiration in all YOU do!!!
Sophie - MMMM….you help me with things to make I have never tried to make before!! Thanks for your knowledge!!
The Holly Tree - Hey Lacy, Josh, and kids. Just poppin by to wish you all a great day and great weekend… 🙂
(((((((((Huggles))))))))))
Dawn - Another great recipe. You amaze me with your knowledge of all this stuff.
Ann - I love that you know how to do SO much stuff that I just don’t – bc I learn something new here all the time. Plus, it makes me prouder and prouder to know you, all the time. You DO rock like Kiss.
Lynae - I juuuust finished making this recipe, and it ended up yielding a lot less than I expected. I have .75 pint jars and it only filled about 1.25 of them! I did use 6 apples instead of 7 (I ate one!) but it still seems like a big difference. Maybe my apples were also a lot smaller than yours.
I have a recipe for apple pectin in an old cookbook (I found that recipe after I found yours) and it calls for 9 cups water, 4lb apples, and no lemon juice. Other than that its directions are the same, except it says to take the leftover pulp from the first round of straining, add an equal amount of water, and boil that for 20 minutes, then straining it again. I didn’t try this but it does seem like a good way to get every last bit of pectin out that you can.
Thanks so much for posting this! I’m starting to get really into canning, and apples are way cheaper than commercial pectin, at least where I live.
valerie - This looks like such a lovely positive site.
Thank you, i will enjoy learning more from you all. x x