A favorite recipe from Linda to you!
Crab apples are abundant this time of year. I am thrilled as I preparing to make one of my annual favorites Crab Apple Chutney. Below is the recipe in case you too are rich in this amazing pectin rich fruit.
Fun Fact: Pectin is a wonderful prebiotic which helps to support digestive health and to move heavy metals out of the body! Can’t go wrong eating these tart small apples.
Crab Apple Chutney
Makes 3 Cups
Ingredients:
2 cups crabapples, quartered and cored (leave the skins on). You can replace with any apple, if you do not have access to crab apples.
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped onions
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup honey
1 Tbsp grated orange peel
1 Tbsp fresh ginger
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and stir well.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered for 50 minutes.
Uncover and simmer a few more minutes over low heat, cooking off excess liquid. Let cool. Enjoy!!
Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. If you make a larger batch a water bath canning method works well for preserving chutney!
Now that you've made your delicious chutney, here is a fun crab apple poem:
Crab-apples, Crab-apples, out in the wood,
Little and bitter, yet little and good!
The apples in orchards, so rosy and fine,
Are children of wild little apples like mine.
The branches are laden, and droop to the ground;
The fairy-fruit falls in a circle around;
Now all you good children, come gather them up;
They’ll make you sweet jelly to spread when you sup.
One little apple I’ll catch for myself;
I’ll stew it, and strain it, to store on a shelf
In four or five acorn-cups, locked with a key
In a cupboard of mine at the root of the tree.
—Cicely Mary Barker, THE CRAB-APPLE FAIRY