Apple Scrap Jelly

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     I recently was able to get half a bushel of gigantic Honey Crisp Apples, grown in Utah.  I decided to can Red Hot Cinnamon Apple Rings but the apples were so big they wouldn't fit into my jars as a ring and I had to half them.  But, they still look beautiful. 

    When I can apples or make pies, I always feel a little bit bad about throwing away the peels and scraps.  We hate to waste things around here. Then, I found out that you can make apple jelly out of them! Of course, I had to give it a try! 

     As I researched recipes, I found that some recipes used pectin and others did not because apples are naturally high in pectin you may be able to boil the jelly long enough to thicken it without adding additional pectin.  I opted to use pectin because since it was the first time I was making it, I didn't want to take the chance of not getting a set.  Well, the jelly still didn't set as firmly as I had hoped even though i also boiled it much longer than I normally would, so it is a good thing I did add the pectin.  At first I thought it wasn't going to gel at all, but jelly, unlike jam, will set up as it gets colder and I was happy to get a bit of a gel by the next morning.  There could be a few reasons why my gel was softer and I need to experiment with these reasons the next time I try it:

• I had just canned the apple rings and had a bit of the syrup left with the red hots melted in, which helped with the color and gave a slight cinnamon taste to the jelly, but may have thrown off the recipe enough to affect how well it set. 
• I may have used too little sugar.  The recipes I saw asked for from 4-6 cups of sugar.  I used 4 and 1/2 in my recipe.  I think that next time I will use 6.
• Perhaps I needed more lemon juice.  I used a couple of Tablespoons, maybe one more would have been better. 
• The recipe calls for 7 cups of liquid.  I had 8 cups.

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     When I make updates to the recipe, I'll let you know.  Additionally, if you would like to replace the water with apple juice, that is an option!
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     On the bright side, even if the jelly is thin, it will still be great on pancakes or to glaze meat or to add to apple pie filling.  And look what a pretty color it has!  Because I had a bit of the Red Hot liquid in mine, that definitely helped with the color.  But I also read that depending on the variety of apple you are using, the color will vary.  One recipe I read said that Jonathan apples are great for adding the red color to the jelly.  After cooking the peels, you will see that the color is all out of the peels and transferred into the juice.  This is what my juice looked like after straining out the juice from the pulp:
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     The color of this jelly is so pretty, it would make a really beautiful gift this Christmas! 
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     When I woke up this morning and found a bit of a gel, I was so happy! So, I made some Bannock to try it out on, which made my husband very happy! 
     The Bannock was warm, so of course, the jelly melted right away, but you can still see the beautiful color and the taste was terrific! My husband went back for seconds!

    Oh!  And one more great thing about this recipe for Apple Scrap Jelly is that it makes a lot of jelly jars full of jelly!  I was able to get 10 jars! (That number includes the jelly crock you can see in the above photo!  It was full to the top! )
     I love the satisfaction of using every bit of my apple purchase without waste.  It makes me feel like I am getting my money's worth and I feel so accomplished to be able to feed my family by preserving produce by canning! Be sure to let me know if you have ever tried to make Apple Scrap Jelly and if you have any tips for me to get a little stiffer gel.  I'd love to hear your comments! 

​     You can click on the recipe below to print! 
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