Crabapples

The crabapple tree in the front yard had an abundance of fruit this year. I was glad to see something producing since my garden has been a bit of a bust. Only the onions have thrived and there is only so much excitement you can generate over onions. So I decided to try something new with the only crop I had and I made crabapple jelly. It was good for a summer days adventure.

I'll start you off with a picture of the crabapples. Aren't they lovely? Small, rosy marble sized apples. William was surprised to learn that you could actually eat them. Of course he wasn't brave enough to try it.

But he was brave enough to climb on top of the car to pick them. As a matter of fact, he was elated, excited, and eager to climb on top of the car to pick them. And Rachel was just as excited to be allowed to take the pictures.

Sarah and Geral wanted to help William and I pick the crabapples. They have another ladder set up that is just out of sight in the next photo. Geral even went up the ladder but there was a bee flying around and a spider on one of the leaves, and stink bugs, and well she just isn't into bugs. Sarah had her phone to distract her. I think it was Lauren texting from indoors.

Nevertheless, William and I managed to pick enough by ourselves to make a large batch of jelly. Thanks to the internet we had instructions. Once quick trip to the store to get the lids for the jars and some cheesecloth to strain the juice through and we were in business.

I really did intend to take some pictures of the process but managed to get it made without taking any. The first batch didn't set up properly. We had some delicious apple syrup. Since I didn't think that we would really use it in syrup form, I opened the jars and reset the jelly. This time it worked right. So now we have several bottle sitting on a shelf waiting for some crisp autumn air to roll in. It will be perfect on some warm rolls fresh out of the oven.