Autumn,
canning,
Corn-Free,
crabapples,
Dairy-free,
foraging,
Mason Jars,
Sauce,
Wheat-free
For the Love of All Things Autumn: Crabapple Sauce
12:43 PMThese amazing fruits have gone overlooked year after year and this year I just couldn't take it anymore! I mean, LOOK at these!
My Dad has a tree that produces THESE every year and I couldn't stand to pass them up. I'm SO glad I finally played with them b/c they taste just as amazing as they look. I started playing in the kitchen, originally figuring I'd try to slowcooker the living heck out of these and hide their presumably bitter flavor with a ton of sugar and ALL of the "apple butter" style spice that I could find.
But, I was dead wrong. Very happily dead wrong, might I add! The result was a gorgeous bright red sauce-style spread that is actually quite reminiscent of the tang/pungency of cranberries. I added half the sugar that was called for, and only a little bit of cinnamon and I couldn't be happier! This crabapple sauce will be amazing on any sort of roasted meat, fowl, or veggie and it would also be delicious on toast in the morning, or accompanying pretty much any sort of chocolatey baked good.
Autumnal Beauty Crabapple Sauce
4 lbs crabapples, stemmed and trimmed
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
water
"Top and tail" your crabapples by destemming them and cutting off the bottom "blossom" area. Put them in a large pot on the stove with enough water to barely cover the fruit.
Bring to a boil and then cook on low for about 90 minutes.
Pour the water and the crabapples (in batches) into a sieve and mash the fruit. Remove/compost any pulp that doesn't make it through the sieve.
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| Look at that color!!! |
Put your crabapple sauce in a crockpot and add sugar and cinnamon and stir. Cook on high for about an hour, or on low for an additional 3 hours... it makes your house smell amazing, so I like to do it slow.
Taste your crabapple sauce. Mine tasted like really amazing cranberry-esque sauce at this point and I decided to put it in mason jars. If you want it sweeter, add a little more sugar.
I ended up with about 3 1/2 pints of crabapple sauce. I decided to freeze mine, because I have a freezer out in the garage for extra storage. If you want to store yours on a shelf, put the sealed jars in a waterbath for 20 minutes.
Enjoy!!
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