Washington Apple Country Recipes

Apple Jelly
Cut 12 pounds of apples into quarters and core. Put into preserving kettle and add 6 quarts of water; cover and boil gently for 20 minutes. Drain over night and strain the juice. Boil rapidly for five minutes and add one pound of hot sugar to each pint of juice; stir until the sugar dissolves and boil quickly until it will form a jelly on the spoon or on a cold plate. Add the seeds of two vanilla beans and pour into sterilized glasses. Cover with paraffin

Apple and Barberry Jelly
Equal parts of barberry and apple juice; let boil for 20 minutes and add an equal amount of sugar. Let boil briskly until it jellies on a spoon. Quince, grape, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, rhubarb, cherry, peach, mountain ash, Oregon grape, wild plum, or almost any highly flavored fruit may be used instead of the barberry juice.

Apple Mint Jelly
Mint jelly may be made by adding a few sprigs of spearmint and enough green vegetable coloring to apple jelly while hot to give it a cool color and flavor.

Spiced Apple Jelly
Wash and quarter apples. Cover with three quarts of cold water and one quart of vinegar. Boil until soft. Drain through a colander. Strain juice through a jelly bag. Take equal measures of sugar and juice two dozen whole cloves and some stick cinnamon. Boil until it jells; strain out the spices

Apple Preserves
Make a syrup of one pound of sugar and to half a pint of water; add the thin outer rind and the juice of one lemon; let boil briskly for five minutes. Drop quarters of apples into the syrup and cook gently until clear; stand aside to cool. When cold, transfer carefully to jars and boil the syrup down. Pour over the apples and seal.

Apple and Quince Preserves
Pare, core, and quarter Baldwin apples; add a third as many quinces that have been pared cored and cut into small pieces and boiled until tender. Make a syrup of the water in which the quinces were boiled, and as much sugar as there are apples and quinces. Let boil, skim, and drop the quinces and apples in, and let boil for 15 minutes; dip out carefully and put into jelly glasses; boil the syrup until it will jelly and pour over the fruit.

Blackberry and Apple Jam
Use equal weights of nice ripe blackberries and fresh apples peeled, cored, and chopped. Put on to cook with equal weight of sugar and half a cupful of cold water for every pound sugar. Let the sugar melt and the fruit heat slowly until it reaches the boiling point, stirring it now and then. When it boils, put where it will cook very gently for an hour or until the fruit looks clear and is as thick as jelly when tested in a saucer. Let it cool a bit before putting in jars. Apple Marmalade
Pare, core, and cut into small pieces coarse-grained apples. Allow a pound of sugar to each pound of apples. Add enough water to dissolve the sugar and boil until thick; add the apples and boil until tender; pass through colander; add the juice and grate rind of lemon to every 4 pounds of fruit. Boil again until thick and put up in jars or glasses. Cover with paraffin. Crabapple marmalade may be made in the same way with the lemon omitted. When cold it should cut like cream cheese.

Crabapple Marmalade
Wash and core crabapples and put them through the meat chopper. Put into a preserving kettle and add water until it shows through the top layer of apples. Cook until soft. Weigh and add an equal weight of sugar. Cook until mixture forms a jelly when cooled and pour into sterilized glasses. Cover with paraffin.

Jellied Apples With Almonds
Pare, core, and quarter Golden Pippins; stew until soft and beat smooth. Make syrup by boiling a pound and a half of sugar and a pint of water for every two pounds of apples. Put the apple pulp and the juice of 3 lemons into the syrup an boil gently until stiff enough to drop heavily from the spoon. Pour into a wet mold and when cold turn onto a serving dish. Stick blanched almonds into the jelly and surround with whipped cream.