Can you eat crab apples? 3 favourite crab apple recipes

Can you eat crab apples? 3 favourite crab apple recipes

 

by Helen Keating,

Yes, you can eat crab apples. Generally, they're too tart to eat raw, but their appliness is intense when cooked.

These ancestors of cultivated apple have small, round fruit that rarely grow larger than a golf ball. They ripen in late September to October and are usually green with a pink blush or a golden yellow colour.

They may be small and sour, but you can make some amazing recipes with crab apples. They have an exceptionally high pectin and acid content which makes them ideal for setting fruit jams and jellies. They also have an excellent, tart and tangy apple flavour.

Here are three recipe ideas. Give them a go. You won’t be disappointed.

Crab apple jelly

Easy and traditional crab apple jelly

This is a taste bud-tingling amber-pink jelly. It’s perfect for serving with meats. You can pep up the recipe by adding a few chillies, a cinnamon stick, coriander seeds or star anise to the pan.

Ingredients

• As many crab apples as you want to use
• Enough water to just cover them
• White sugar - 450g for every 600ml of strained juice

Method

Tip crab apples into preserving pan (no need to cut them up). Add enough water to just cover them. Bring to the boil, simmer and stir now and then until the fruit has turned mushy.

Allow to cool a little and then pour into a jelly bag and leave to strain overnight into a large bowl. Don’t squeeze the bag or the jelly will be cloudy.

Measure the strained juice and pour back into the preserving pan and heat slowly. Add 450g sugar for every 600ml of juice and add to the juice. Stir until the sugar dissolves bring to the boil. Boil rapidly until setting point is achieved (test by dropping a spoonful of mixture onto a fridge cold saucer, as it cools it should wrinkle on the surface). Pour hot jelly into hot sterile jars and seal immediately.

Crab apple liqueur

Crab apple vodka - perfect for a cold winter night.

If you’re a fan of sloe gin and fruit liqueurs, make this. So intense is the appliness of crab apples, you’ll end up with a deliciously golden liqueur with a divine, rich taste. Perfect for a cold winter’s eve by the fire.

Ingredients

30 to 40 crab apples (washed and halved)
1 litre gin or vodka
200g caster sugar

Method

Fill a large preserving jar ¾ with crab apples. Pour sugar over and add gin or vodka. Add any remaining crab apples to the top and seal. Steep for one to two months. Turning the jar daily for the first week and now and then afterwards.

Strain liqueur through two or three layers of muslin and decant into a bottle. Leave for another month or so (or as long as you can bear).

Toffee crab apples

You can add toppings to your toffee crab apples.

Toffee apples often only get half eaten because they’re too big. But crab apples are the perfect size. This recipe makes 12 toffee crab apples.

Ingredients

12 good condition crab apples, washed, and remove black flower remnants on bottom of apples
12 small kebab sticks
200g sugar
1 teaspoon cider or white vinegar
1 teaspoon butter
3 tablespoons water
Red food colouring (optional)

Method

Press kebab stick into the centre (core) of each apple.

To make toffee, place all ingredients except apples in a pan and bring to the boil. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Then boil rapidly for 2-3 minutes, until a small blob dropped into a cup of cold water forms a soft ball. Don’t take your eye off as it burns easily.

Remove from heat, tilt it to one side and then dip the apples in. Give them a slow spin to evenly coat in toffee, then place on a piece of greased baking paper on a tray. The toffee takes a minute or two to set.

Source: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2016/10/crab-apple-recipes/