Spiced crab apples — NCHFP
A tested overnight spiced crabapple pickle with cider vinegar, cinnamon, cloves and fresh ginger, yielding about nine hot-packed pint jars.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 5 lbs crabapples
- 4 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar (5%)
- 3 3/4 cups water
- 7 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 tsp whole cloves
- 4 sticks cinnamon
- 6 1/2-inch cubes fresh ginger root
Equipment
- 1 Boiling-water bath canner with rack
- 1 Large stainless or enamel preserving pot
- 1 Canning jars with two-piece lids
- 1 Headspace and bubble tool
Directions
Canning method
- Remove blossom petals and wash the crabapples, leaving the stems attached. Puncture each apple’s skin four times with an ice pick or toothpick.
- Combine the vinegar, water and sugar and bring to a boil. Tie the cloves, cinnamon and fresh ginger in a spice bag or cheesecloth and add it to the syrup.
- Using a blancher basket or sieve, immerse one-third of the apples at a time in the boiling vinegar-syrup solution for 2 minutes.
- Place the cooked apples and spice bag in a clean 1- or 2-gallon crock and add the hot syrup. Cover and let stand overnight.
- The next day, remove the spice bag. Drain the syrup into a large saucepan and reheat it to boiling.
- Fill clean pint jars with the apples and hot syrup, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Apply the lids.
- Process pint jars in a boiling-water canner for 20 minutes at 0–1,000 feet, 25 minutes at 1,001–3,000 feet, 30 minutes at 3,001–6,000 feet, or 35 minutes above 6,000 feet.
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Recipe Notes
Safety: Use apple cider vinegar labeled 5% acidity and keep the tested ingredient proportions unchanged. This is an overnight, two-day procedure. Pack in pint jars with 1/2-inch headspace. Process for 20 minutes at 0–1,000 feet, 25 minutes at 1,001–3,000 feet, 30 minutes at 3,001–6,000 feet, or 35 minutes above 6,000 feet. Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation.