My famous Apple Jelly – Best Fall Recipe

If you cook this Apple Jelly (Apfel Gelee in German), your entire house will be wrapped in a wonderful scent of apple cider! Cinnamon, apple, and vanilla will be in the air and you will welcome Fall into your house like a beloved old friend.

Cooking the Best Apple Jelly

I still remember cooking my first apple jelly when I was 22 years old. Some friends had a large apple tree in their garden and gifted me with a big box of apples. I was not sure what to make with all these apples and I didn’t have a cookbook and the internet wasn’t invented, yet. But I vaguely remembered my grandmother cooking jellies and marmalades and decided to give it a try. OMG! It turned out so wonderful and it lasted through all winter. Ever since, cooking apple jelly has become a Fall tradition for me. Over the years, I improved my recipe and though it is simple, it has gotten me much praise from all friends who were gifted with one of these jars.

Video: How I cook Apple Jelly

The Juicer

In the video, I promised to put a link to my juicer here, so voila´: https://amzn.to/2SuiEBL

What is Pectin

The “thing” that makes fruits gel, is called pectin and it is a natural thing. Some fruits contain a lot of pectins like apples, oranges, and lemons while others have less like strawberries. When you make apple jelly, you could add a package of pectin but you don’t need to. If you just boil it long enough, the pectin in the apples will do its thing.

My favorite uses for Apple Jelly

I love my apple jelly on a fresh, warm slice of toast! But it is also delicious on a German Pancake. With this particular batch, I have special plans though: Filling “Berliner” with it. “Berliner” are a German version of donuts, just that we don’t put a hole into it, instead, we fill them with jam or jelly in the center. I will make this recipe for the blog and video channel in a bit.

Calculate the Sugar Amount

This recipe doesn’t come with the exact quantity of the sugar you will need. It very much depends on how much juice you will get from the apples. Once you have made the apple juice, you need to measure it and calculate how much sugar is needed. In general, 1 liter (4 cups) of juice needs 1 kg (4 cups) of sugar. So, here are some more examples:

2 cups of juice – 2 cups of sugar /or/ 500 ml juice – 500 g sugar
6 cups of juice – 6 cups of sugar /or/ 1500 ml juice – 1500 g sugar

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My famous Apple Jelly

Barbara

4 from 5 votes

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Course Breakfast

Cuisine German

Equipment

a juicer is helpful but not neccessary

large cooking pot

scale or cups

measure cup for liquids

marmalade jars

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

• 2 kg apples to make fresh juice chose the apples you like
• 1 kg sugar per 1 liter apple juice (1 l = 4 cups)
• 1-2 sticks cinnamon
• 1-2 ct. vanilla pods
• 1 tsp. rum extract (or real rum) Amaretto works, too!

Instructions

 

Make juice without a juicer

• If you don't have a juicer, wash and cut the apples into smaller pieces.
• Put the apples into a large pot and add 1/3 cup water.
• Bring to a boil and simmer until the apples are really soft. Add water if needed to avoid burning.
• Put the cooked apples into a large cheesecloth, then grab the ends of the fabric and bind them together with some twine. Hang above a large bowl and let the juice drip out of the cheesecloth overnight.
• Discard the remains in the cheesecloth.

Making juice with a juicer

• Cut the apples into smaller pieces and use the juicer to make the apple juice.

Making the Apple Jelly

• Measure the amount of juice you got out of your apples.
• Calculate and measure the amount of sugar you need: Per 1 liter (4 cups) use 1 kg (4 cups) of sugar.
• Fill a large pot with the juice and add the sugar, cinnamon stick, and vanilla pods.
• Bring to a boil and let simmer for an extended time.
• After about ½ hour or 1 hour (depending on the amount of juice you are cooking), start to test if the jelly sets:

  Use a small plate and put some of the jelly onto it. Wait until it has cooled and check if it has a jelly consistency. It not: Continue to boil and test again after a while and continue like this until the jelly has the right consistency.
• Add the rum extract (or some real rum).
• Once your jelly has the right consistency, fill it into clean jars all the way to the rim. Close them with a lid and turn upside down for 15 minutes.
• Turn the jars back after 15 minutes and let cool completely.
• Tipp: If after cooling it turns out that the jelly is still too liquid, just put it back into the pot and simmer some more.

Keyword glutenfree, sweet, vegan, vegetarian

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!