Apple Jelly?

I should have taken a picture of my kitchen from earlier today.  It looked like the canning fairy had come and forgotten to finish up her work.  I had jars and lids and apples and towels and tongs and pots and sugar and an occasional pizza pan (teenage boys still need to eat) all over the place.  Every counter space was filled.  It's still a little messy......but now it's an organized mess.

My main objective today was dealing with the apples my parents had sent home with me last weekend.  My daughter had made a big dent in my supply by eating 2 or 3 of them a night but the bag was still overflowing.  I began the process of making apple butter and a tried a new challenge......apple jelly.

I was at my knitting group on Tuesday talking about making applesauce and apple butter.  One of the women in my group talked about her very southern Mama, she grew up in Alabama, doing the same but then making apple jelly with the apple discards - the peels and cores.  I thought I'd do a little research and do the same.

The first thing I did was wash the apples.  They looked so pretty!  Imagine a whole tree of these gems!

Then I cored and peeled them.  I have this great tool from a local apple orchard that cores the apple.

Next I peeled, sliced and diced the apple.

I added the diced apples to the crockpot for apple butter and I added the cores and peels to a stockpot for the apple jelly.

I peeled a lot of apples......

To the stock pot full of apple cores and peels, I added 6 cups of apple juice.

I let this mixture come to a boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes then I remove it from the heat.  While it was cooking, I prepared my equipment for the next step.  I took a funnel, a large glass vessel and a sterilized piece of cloth and put them together.

I ladled the apple peel/core/juice mixture onto my cloth/glass creation and pressed gently to allow the juice to pass through.

While I was preparing the jelly, I was also preparing the lids and bands in a hot water bath.

I put all of the juice into a large stock pot.

Here's where the recipe gets a little "dicey".  I only added 5 cups of sugar because my apples were so sweet.  Many recipes call for up to 9 cups of sugar.....this may be an issue later.

And to this I added a package of Pectin.

With two cinnamon sticks, this mixture was ready to boil.

I let it boil until the pectin and sugar were dissolved then I ladled it into my jars and sealed them with the boiled lids and bands.  I put them in a hot water bath for about 5 minutes.

I moved them with tongs to a clean white towel to finish sealing.

Lots of sealing/popping going on.  I'll either have great apple jelly or a tasty apple syrup in the morning!

As of now......10 hours after I started the process, all jars have sealed and the mixture is getting thicker.......jelly-like.

I hope what you're taking away from my day in the kitchen today is it is not necessarily the recipe but the process.  Don't be afraid of taking risks.  If my jelly doesn't "set up" it will make awesome homemade pancake syrup or a sugar substitute for oil/sugar in another recipe.  My kids all made comments on how wonderful the house smelled.  My 14 year old son coming out of his room to see what smelled so good and how soon he could eat it is quite a compliment!  Tonight when my kids go to bed, it will smell like apple/cinnamon.......a homey smell.  So apple jelly or apple syrup.....it's all good!

 "Even if I knew the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."  -Martin Luther