Don't throw away those apple peels and scraps. Use them to create yummy jelly.
If you follow me on Facebook you might have noticed that I have spent a good deal of time canning in the past few weeks. So far I have mainly been canning different types of jelly and apples. Lots of apples might I add. 🙂 While canning apples I hated to throw away the peels knowing that it was possible to take the peels and turn them into jelly. So that’s what I did. I couldn’t have been more pleased with the results.
You need a "jelly bag" or pillowcase to place all of the peels in once they are cooked. You can also use a jelly stand with the jelly bag.
How to Make Jelly from Peelings and Scraps:
- Place all peelings and leftover apple parts in the largest pot you own. Add water (I think I used about 4 cups?). Cook about 4 hours.
- You will need a jelly bag or pillowcase to place the water and peelings inside. I didn’t have a jelly bag so I sewed one up while my apple peels were simmering. I made it by sewing 2 pieces of fabric 14″ X 24″ right sides together. Turn inside out and add a casing at the top. Insert ribbon. Viola. So simple to make although I would probably make mine about 1/2 as tall next time. Ideal size would be more like: 14″ X 12″.
Hang your jelly bag with a bowl underneath it to catch the juice.
Place your peels and juice into the jelly bag. Hang it from a hook in your kitchen with a large bowl underneath. You could also use a jelly stand. I do not have any hooks or cabinet pulls in my kitchen so I ended up placing the bag in a strainer on top of a large bowl.
- This set up worked great for me since I don’t have any knobs to hang the bag in my kitchen.
Periodically I squeezed and kneaded the bag in my hands to release more juice.
- After a few hours the juice is ready to make into jelly. You can either make it immediately or store the juice in the refrigerator.
- My large pot of peelings yielded 3 quarts of juice.
Jelly Making:
Batch 1 (Without Pectin): I used the Apple Jelly recipe in the Ball Blue Book (pg. 35): 4 cups apple juice, 3 cups sugar, 2 T. lemon juice. Stir constantly until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook to a gelling point. Remove from heat. Skim foam. Place in jars and process 10 minutes. Somehow I ended up cooking my jelly too long. Instead of yielding 4 half pints I was left with only 2! Oops. Guess I made some yummy apple syrup? 🙂
Batch 2 (With Pectin): For the second batch I decided to take the easy way out and use some Pectin. You can either purchase Sure Jell or Ball Natural Fruit Pectin. It was so easy to make the jelly using pectin! I may never try to make jelly without it again. Well at least not for a couple of weeks. I just followed the directions included with the box.
The finished product.
Emerson Family 