This year we had the opportunity to harvest loads of apples from our neighbors homestead. For several weeks I didn’t know what to do with that beautiful bounty but I knew I didn’t want it going to waste.
Standing in my kitchen looking at what I had on hand, I thought like many women before me living in meager times, how do I preserve this with what I have?
Jars, water and sugar. I decided to start by making a thick apple syrup. We don’t eat wheat as we have sensitivities but we do drink kombucha regularly. So I decided to start here as I use the apple syrup to do a second ferment of kombucha. Benefits of kombucha are numerous and fermenting foods such as apple syrup increases the nutrients and makes them more bioavailable.
Something too I considered was that at one point using sugar to preserve food was also a way to store one’s sugar for the winter. The work that pioneers would do was intense so adding sugar preserves added calories to their daily diet when they could. That was a new thought for me because I struggled with how much sugar this apple syrup takes.
Anyway, let me get into this Apple Syrup recipe that you could use for pancakes, add it to drinks for flavor or use to second ferment kombucha. I share how to do this too. I also have a video sharing my experience canning these preserves and I will leave the link at the end of this post.
Apple Syrup
For every one quart of chopped apples, you can use the cores too for this too, I added one quart of water.
10 quarts apples (this is a great way to use the leftover skins and cores too because you’ll be straining this)
10 quarts of water
10 cups sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
Mix together on the stove and allow to simmer. I’m sorry that I don’t have a simmer time but I just allowed this to cook down throughout the day while I worked. So a few hours at least, on low. It smelled heavenly.
Once cooked down to the desired consistency I strained my syrup through a fine mesh jelly strainer, into a clean quart jar. Wipe the rim with a clean cloth, I dip mine in vinegar, wring out and wipe the rim before placing a canning lid on top. Screw the lid on finger strength tight, not too tight. I then water bath canned my jars for 15 minutes.
To make a second ferment of kombucha, using a one gallon jar, I filled 1/3 of the way full with my apple syrup and 2/3 full of fermented kombucha. When initially making kombucha you only need to place a cloth on top of the jar and secure with a rubber band. But to do a second ferment you need a lid that will screw on. Leave screwed on gently, not too tight and check daily. Depending on how warm your kitchen is this will vary ferment times. For us it takes 4-5 days to get a bubbly finished second ferment.
Apple Chutney
This is such an easy recipe. It is mostly made with pears but I love making it with apples too. You can make it based on what you have available and it adds a nice touch to a simple meat and potato supper.
16 Cups of chopped apples
4 Cups of Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Cups of sugar (we use organic cane sugar)
one large onion chopped
cinnamon, clove, ginger and salt to taste
*you could add whole cinnamon sticks, star anise, whole cloves, fresh ginger or raisins too!
allow this to simmer until soft, cooked down and thick. It is so fragrant and tasty.
I ladled mine right into clean canning jars and water bath canned for 15 minutes.
If you’re interested to watch my video canning all of these lovely fall apples check out the link below:
1 comment
How much fresh ginger & salt do u estimate u used? I have no clue how much raisins to add either lol but chutney has to have raisins to me!
Does this spoil if not canned? Seems it would keep forever with a qt of vinegar and 2cups sugar!
Thx, I’m drooling at the thought of chutney