Self Inefficiency

A friend of mine gave me a jar of her crab apply jelly and I loved it so much so that when I passed by an apple tree full of crab apples set off of the road, I filled my nap-sack with semi-stolen apples and was inspired to make jelly. I acquired the recipe from my friend which seemed simple enough, but (unpeeled uncored apples, sugar, cloves and cinnamon sticks)  found out I needed way more apples than one nap-sack held, so I went and picked more. Still enthusiastic, and a bit smug with my free bounty, though growing suspicious, I got out my canning stuff and cute little jars and got set to make jelly on a Saturday.

Step one was wash, remove sticks and cook apples. Done. Next step "put in muslin over a sieve, let fruit drip overnight and don't force through". Crap. So this is going to require more attention than I initially thought. I don't own muslin or a sieve. "wait, I know" thought I, I have that natural burlap bag from the "bag o' sprout kit" I bought but never made because it seemed like too much attention required. Okay, still on track, I can do this.

Wait, the fruit isn't all fitting and how do I suspend it above the bowl or pot? I rigged my biggest tongs above my big pot and let it stand there all day. I reluctantly left it and went on to deal with chicken chores. I came back a few hours later, greeted by an entire swarm of fruit flies and a grand total of two tablespoons of lovely thick apple juice. You see it wasn't watery juice like you buy at the store but rather this really thick, gooey juice that evidently doesn't flow quickly through my "bag o' sprout bag". Crap. Now what do I do. Tempted to chuck the whole mess outside I decided to stick it in the fridge when I went to bed that night worried the fruit flies would turn it into rot. I got up the next morning expecting, I dunno, something. Instead I found out the thick, unnatural looking clear, goop doesn't flow at all when it is chilled. Sigh.

Out it came onto the counter, fruit flies be damned.  It flowed a bit more as it warmed. I got about 300 ml and chucked out the first bag's worth of mash to the chickens. Well, at least they got something out of it. I refilled the bag with the second load and waited. The next day of this growing bad dream I waited a reasonable amount of time and then decided to go against the instructions and squeeze the bag. It came out a bit, mostly onto my hands, it was that think. Very little dripped into the pot. I managed to squeeze out about 600 ml. I angrily chucked the remaining mash out the backdoor to the chickens and set about making my small amount of jelly. I made two tiny jars. Some "self sufficiency" foods are better left on the tree in my opinion. The jelly turned out very good and my seven year old son enjoyed eating the apple "jello" left in the bottom of the pan and which coated the cinnamon sticks. Actually watching him lick off the cinnamon sticks was the best part.

To my friend who gave me that small jar of crab apple jelly, either you have way more patience than I do, or you own muslin and a sieve, either way, I didn't thank you enough for your apple jelly at the time!