Does anybody have a favorite recipe for making spiced crabapples? My mom used to make them when I was a kid, but that recipe is long lost.
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sounds tasty…maybe give this a try and adjust as needed.
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Thank you, I will read that recipe over. Last night my wife and I searched for recipes on the interwebs and we ended up deciding to try the honey cinnamon recipe on this page. That way we can use some honey from the hives that are kept on our place.
Update…we ended up using the first recipe on the page I linked to on my last post. I also added a cinnamon stick to a few of the jars before adding the crabs and syrup.
We had two jars that didn’t seal, so we put them in the fridge and will eat them first. We just tried each jar (luck of the draw…one with a cinnamon stick, one without). Both are very tasty, those with the cinnamon stick taste almost identical to what I remember Ma making when I was a kid.
Glad we tried making them. We’ll probably make another batch this weekend and give some jars away to friends.
The next new thing I’m going to try with crabapples, should help with our cold MN winters
https://www.saveur.com/crab-apple-liqueur-with-cinnamon-recipe
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We’ve given away 7 or 8 quarts of the spiced crabs. Everybody who has tried them has enjoyed them quite a bit.
We did end up tweaking the recipe(s) on our successive batches. We reduced some sugar and added cinnamon heart candies. Definitely tasty.
As far as the cinnamon/crabapple liqueur I posted a link to on my previous post…all I can say is “wow”. I just pulled my jug of booze and crabs out of the fridge today. They’d been in there for about a month. I added the simple syrup from the recipe and gave it a (very small) taste. The stuff is going to be very, very dangerous when mixed with apple cider. 
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I made Spiced Crabapples for the first time this year, too, back the end of Sept. Some of my many seedling crabs just looked so nice I thought I ought to do something with them. I’d never tasted let alone made SC’s but they sounded good. My crabs are varied sizes of small. I passed up the 1/4" ones, picked some 3/4" (I liked the color) but mostly used 1" size. For a recipe I checked out my three reliable old preserving books. As with the recipes above, they were all different one from the other. I mostly started with what was in “Putting Food By” and adapted from there. I had some bumps in the process but was happy with the outcome. It’ll be nice to fine tune the recipe next year.
I did pick some 1 1/2 inch “regular” crabs from an old orchard down the road. It was a light year but there were enough farther up in the tree for my purposes (deer had pretty much cleaned out those within reach). I had to get a boost to get a foot in a high crotch to climb the tree but managed to fill my pockets with real nice fruit. They would be the crown jewell in each jar with the smaller crabs surrounding them. After cleaning and poking all the crabs (endlessly…) I put them all in the simmering juice to cook. I don’t remember how long, maybe 3-5 minutes, fine for the smaller crabs but apparently too long for the nice large ones. When I spooned the first ones out and into a jar they fell apart. Darn, that wouldn’t do. I dipped all the big ones out and filled my jars with the smaller fruit. They did fine. I ate the mushy 1 1/2 inchers. Didn’t want them to go to waste.
Now, about the oft recommended “run a darning needle through eachcrab apple so it doesn’t split”. What do other folks do? I tried the darning needle bit but theirs must be bigger, stronger and sharper than mine or their apples a whole lot softer. By putting a cork on the back end I did manage to stab holes in all the crabs (more at the beginning, less later) (I wouldn’t use 3/4" crabs again). Some split when cooked, some didn’t.Later I realized a wood handled awl from the shop would have worked easier. Whatever tool used I would definitely go for larger sized crabs next time. My 4 plus qts of little crabs was way too much fussy poking/stabbing. Even if they did turn out OK in the end.
Here’s my recipe and some pics:
4# crabs - 3 1/2 qts
4 c cider vinegar
4 c water
4 c sucanet (brown sugar)
in a bag in the syrup: 4 sticks broken up cinnamon, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp allspice. Simmered for some time (while poking holes in the crabs). Add & cook crabs for 3-5 min. Dip out crabs into clean jars, Try to get the little stems pointing up (to make it easier to lift out). Pour hot syrup over, put hot lids on, set aside to cool and seal. Made 4 pints and 4 halfpints. I thought they were a little strong flavor for straight snacking but sister-in-law loved them.
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Stu, Did you use a fork to poke holes? Or something else (or nothing)? Did they hold up ? Sue
I did use a fork, and the crabs did hold up (for the most part). A definite improvement on fruit integrity over not poking them at all.
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If you happen to be coring any of your crabapples before using them, would you have any interest in saving some seeds and passing them along to me?
I’m experimenting with growing seedling fruit trees and one of my big needs right now is for seeds from a wider genetic background than I have right now.
If saving and passing along some seeds is a possibility, please send me a PM.
Thanks for considering my request.