crabapple jelly

I have a million crabapples on my tree out in the front yard. I usually just let them run their course, fall of the tree, let the deer eat them. I felt creative this fall, however, and since one afternoon I found myself home a whole hour early, I decided to make jelly. Brecken helped every step of the way!

Crabapple Jelly:
10 cups prepared crabapples
5 cups water
5 cups crabapple juice extracted from apples
5 cups sugar
1 box pectin

Wash picked apples by placing them in a large bowl of water. Let soak for 10 minutes. Any worms in the apples will float to the top.

Halve the apples. It's easier to pull the stems out after you cut the apple in half.

Put the 10 cups of apples in 5 cups of water and boil for 15 minutes. Stir, but do not mash the apples! After 15 minutes, strain the juice from the apples. You can add 1/2 cup of water if you need it to make the full 5 cups of juice. If you need more than 1/2 cup of water, put the apples back in the pot with as much water as you need to get 5 cups of juice, plus 1 extra cup to account for evaporation. Strain again, until you have your 5 cups.

Add pectin to juice and dissolve. Bring to a hard boil for 3 minutes.

Add all the sugar at one time. Stir to dissolve and bring to a hard boil for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat. Your mixture will be like syrup but should coat the spoon.

Pour mixture into canning jars, 1/4" from the top. Add lids and rings. Put in a big pot of boiling water to seal the jars. I boiled the jars for 20 minutes. Take jars out of boiling water. Let sit for 12-24 hours without moving them. Check jars to make sure they sealed by pushing the little button on the top. Refrigerate and use any unsealed ones within 3 weeks.