Apple/Cinnamon Jelly [Archive]

Bullwolf

09-30-2012, 02:29 AM

We had a bunch of apples, and strawberries as well this year, so the family made a mix of apple-strawberry jam.

This is the basic recipe used, with a few minor changes.

Recipe: for apple/strawberry jelly (added the strawberry to it this year)

5lb. apples.
4 lemons.
for 5 cups of prepared juice (includes water and lemon juice)
1 cup of ground strawberries.
7 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 package of pectin

Prepare lids and jars first: Boil jars on a rack in a sauce pot filled with water for 10 minutes. Place new, flat lids in saucepan with water. Bring to a boil; remove from heat, Let stand in hot water until ready to use.

To prepare fruit:
Discard stems and blossom ends, Cut into small pieces and place in large saucepan. Stir in 2 and 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer covered, 10 minutes. Crush and simmer 5 minutes.

Place 3 layers of damp cheesecloth or jelly bag in a large bowl. Pour prepared fruit into cheesecloth. Tie cheesecloth closed; hang and let drip into bowl (or massage if your impatient like me) let drip into bowl until dripping stops. Press gently.

Measure exact amount of prepared juice (if necessary add up to 1/2 cup of water to get exact amount of prepared juice needed.)

(Modified the recipe this year by adding/substituting 1 cup of ground up strawberries for color, and flavor.) Strawberries were prepared by being washed, stemmed, ground/crushed thoroughly. If using a food processor, use pulse to very finely chop . DO NOT PUREE, Jam should have little bits of fruit in it.

Measure exact amount of prepared fruit juice along, with lemon juice into a large bowl. For apple jelly use 5 cups of prepared juice (including water and lemon juice) and 7 and 1/2 cups of sugar.

Gradually stir in 1 packet of pectin into fruit. Mix thoroughly. Set aside for 30 minutes, stirring evenly every 5 minutes to dissolve pectin.

Stir in sugar gradually, Stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy.

Pour into prepared containers, leaving 1/2 inch expansion space at top.

Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours until set. Makes close to 9 jars of jam or jelly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alternative recipe for apple jelly, or strawberry jelly.

Juice extraction for jellies.

- Place a large colander in large bowl or pot, Spread 3 layers damp cheesecloth or jelly bag inside colander. Pour in hot prepared fruit.

- Tie cheese cloth or top of bag closed, hang and let drip into bowl until dripping stops. Press gently. Measure juice. Can dilute with water if necessary up to 1/2 a cup for exact measurement.

- Fruit needed: start with approximately 3 quarts of fruit or berries. Crush and measure accurately. Wash, stem, grind thoroughly until reduced to a pulp. Stir in 1 cup of water and 1/4 cup of lemon juice. Bring to a full rolling boil. Extract juice.

- For apple jelly you need 5 cups of prepared juice, 1/2 a cup of lemon juice 1 package of pectin, along with 7 and 1/2 cups of sugar. This makes around 9 8oz. jars of apple jelly.

- For strawberry jelly you need 3 cups of prepared juice. 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1 package of pectin, along with 4 and 1/2 cups of sugar. This makes around 5 8oz. jars of strawberry jelly.

Hopefully you can make sense of my jam and jelly recipe notes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now for Apple Wines.

Since we had so many apples again this year, we decided to do another apple wine this year as well. This is the second attempt. It sure came out remarkably good the first time around

I originally used this recipe that I shamelessly borrowed from another forum, I think it was the tobacco forum. I am sorry that I can't give credit to the original author, my memory is just not what it used to be. Any typos are of course all mine.

Apple wine recipe:

Ingredients to make 1 gallon.
- 10 lbs of apples, (4.5kg)
- Juice of 2 lemons,
- 1 lb. of raisins,
- 2 and 1/2 lbs of granulated sugar,
- 2 campden tablets
- 1 teaspoon pectic enzyme,
- 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient,
- 1 packet of wine yeast. (I used a packet of KIV-1116 wine yeast from the home brewing store)

http://www.amazon.com/packs-KIV-1116-Lalvin-Yeast-Winemaking/dp/B004348K2Y

One teaspoon of citric acid can be added, but the easiest option is to replace a few pounds of the apples with baking apples, that way adding the acidity naturally.
METHOD
This is a very easy wine to make, in that you wash and cut up the apples and simmer in a pan for around 15 minutes in water, making sure the water covers the segments of apple.

While hot, the liquid is strained into a fermentation bind containing the sugar and raisins and pectic enzyme, then stirred well.

When it is cool enough (75°F) the yeast us added, along with the nutrient, and citric acid (if you are using it).

This is left covered over for around three days in a warm place, around 75°F or (21 °C).

The liquid is then strained into a demijohn and topped up with cool boiled water almost to the top of the demijohns neck.

You now need to leave it in a warm place (the same temperature mentioned above) for four or five weeks or more to ferment out.

Apples generally produce a lot of sediment, whether in cider or wine, and therefor need racking usually every couple of weeks or three. (I used a clarifying agent once with decent results as well)

If the wine has finished fermenting add 2 campden tablets to the demi-john, that way ensuring there can be no unwanted secondary fermentation, so that if you require a sweeter wine, you can simply add sugar.

You can do it the other way of adding more sugar - see below - (without the use of campbden tablets) and fermenting your wine further, that way boosting the alcohol level, which acts just like the campden tablet effect, without the chemicals.

To top up the demijohn as fermenting progresses, use previously boiled water, then once fermentation is complete leave it in a cool place to clear and mature, preferably in your demijohn (usually the bigger the bulk, then the better the wine) and still under an air lock, for at least 2 months so that it can be finally racked before bottling.

For a sweeter wine, simply follow the above procedure, but when the fermentation has ended, ignore the point about the campden tablet altogether and just decant around half a pint of the wine and warm it up (do not boil it) and stir in two ounces of sugar, before returning the new sugared solution to the main fermenting vessel.

What this has done is, by heating the half pint, you will have killed off the yeast in that small batch, but when you return the sweetened half pint to the secondary fermenter the leaves you left inside the fermenter will immediately begin to fed on the new sugar you have just added and produce more alcohol.

This process can be repeated once the fermentation ceases until the yeast is totally killed off by the alcohol level in the wine, checking each time for the specific gravity, or SG to be above 1.000.

Once it reaches this state, and no further fermentation occurs, providing of course you have not let the must get too hot, or too cold, that way halting the fermentation early, then you know that adding further sugar will only sweeten the wine, so you simply add it to taste.

The wine in this state has enough alcohol in it to kill off any bacteria, just like the campden tablet would have, but without any unnecessary chemical requirements.

It's now time to bottle your wine.

But be warned, an over-sweet wine is not to everyone's taste, and if you get up to 1.005 or more then you are likely to be overdoing it a little, especially for a white wine (1.003 should be considered the maximum for a white wine, but then again, tastes vary).

Also, you have produced the maximum amount of alcohol possible in your sweet wine, maybe around 14 or 15% possibly up to 16%, so you are advised to go steady with it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alternative simple recipe that I haven't tried, but kept for information purposes.

Homemade apple wine:

Apple wine is a sweet, fruity wine that any apple lover will adore. As any wine connoisseur knows, there are many different ways to make each type of wine, to achieve that perfect original taste. Apple wine can be made from apple juice, fresh apples, apple cider, and applesauce.

Instructions:

*3 1/2 lb. apples
*2 1/2 lbs. sugar
*Gallon of cold water
*1 tsp. wine yeast
*1/2 tsp. yeast nutrient
*1/2 tsp. of pectic enzyme

1. Rinse the apples thoroughly, and then dice them; do not peel or core the apples.

2. Place the diced apples in a bucket, and the cold water over them.

3. cover the bucket and allow the apples to sit for a week, stirring them once every day.

4. Strain the liquid through a colander into another bucket after the first week.

5. Add the sugar to the apple liquid, stirring well until the sugar is disolved.

6. Add the wine yeast, the yeast nutrient, and the pectic enzyme to the mixture.

7. Cover the bucket and allow it to sit undisturbed for 24 hours.

8. Strain the liquid again, and then place it in a jar, tightly seal the jar and allow the liquid to ferment for approximately 4 months to turn into clear wine.

Tips and warnings:

*You may use baker's yeast to make wine; however baker's yeast will only produce up to 14% alcohol content, where as wine yeast will produce between 15% and 18%.

*The type of apples used may dramatically alter the flavor, experiment with different types of apples to determine which type of apple wine you like best.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Bullwolf