Erm, not sure yet. It comes reccomended as an accompaniment to game and pork dishes, as well as a tasty topping for bread. My motivation for making it at the time was the memory of my old college mate's father. He used to turn up in the cold industrial northern town bearing gifts. Once a typewriter but more often with jam jars cryptically labelled CAJ. CAJ, of course was crab apple jelly. He worked in British intelligence and this was during the Falklands conflict in the South Atlantic. I like to think of him in his gaberdine overcoat putting the CIA on hold while he checked his jelly. Being students, fine cuts of meat were generally off the menu so we ate it mostly on toast. The idea of maturing it is that the obvious sharp/sweet develops into a subtler, spicy note.
I reckon it would be great with cheese too. The pink colour I seem to have achieved must come, I think, from the cupful of sloes I threw in there. Scouting recipes online, I saw rowan, hawthorn, sloe, rose-hip and elderberries all given as options - as long as at least 50% of the prepared fruit was crab apple, there should be sufficient pectin in the apple cores and seeds for it to set. It was an experiment I suppose and licking the pan scraping spoon (as one does) promised a great-coloured and quite tangy jelly.
Another, last-minute additive suggested was calvados. If it works as well as Scotch in seville marmalade (I use 1 capful per jar), it could be worth trying it with at least half the batch. Then washing it down with good French cidre traditionel!
Another fine item missing in the cruddy state called Florida: crab apples. I used to love picking these and making jams and jellies when I lived up North where they (as well as many other tasty fruits) grow wild. Your recipe sounds good. If I were still in Pennsylvania I'd give it a go.
(drooool... drooooool.... chokey droooool) Ohhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyy.
ReplyDeleteAh crap. Saliva on the keyboard now. Dammit, I just bought this one.
Do you use this on bread; as a cake filling or only to accompany meat or cheese?
ReplyDeletePenny
Erm, not sure yet. It comes reccomended as an accompaniment to game and pork dishes, as well as a tasty topping for bread. My motivation for making it at the time was the memory of my old college mate's father. He used to turn up in the cold industrial northern town bearing gifts. Once a typewriter but more often with jam jars cryptically labelled CAJ. CAJ, of course was crab apple jelly. He worked in British intelligence and this was during the Falklands conflict in the South Atlantic. I like to think of him in his gaberdine overcoat putting the CIA on hold while he checked his jelly. Being students, fine cuts of meat were generally off the menu so we ate it mostly on toast. The idea of maturing it is that the obvious sharp/sweet develops into a subtler, spicy note.
ReplyDeleteI reckon it would be great with cheese too. The pink colour I seem to have achieved must come, I think, from the cupful of sloes I threw in there. Scouting recipes online, I saw rowan, hawthorn, sloe, rose-hip and elderberries all given as options - as long as at least 50% of the prepared fruit was crab apple, there should be sufficient pectin in the apple cores and seeds for it to set. It was an experiment I suppose and licking the pan scraping spoon (as one does) promised a great-coloured and quite tangy jelly.
DeleteAnother, last-minute additive suggested was calvados. If it works as well as Scotch in seville marmalade (I use 1 capful per jar), it could be worth trying it with at least half the batch. Then washing it down with good French cidre traditionel!
Another fine item missing in the cruddy state called Florida: crab apples. I used to love picking these and making jams and jellies when I lived up North where they (as well as many other tasty fruits) grow wild. Your recipe sounds good. If I were still in Pennsylvania I'd give it a go.
ReplyDeleteNo sympathy, Bill. I'd trade your climate at the drop of a hat.
Delete