Have you ever peeled apples for a recipe or your child’s snack and felt guilty about wasting the scraps?
No? Then you’re normal! I, on the other hand, was born with quite the guilt complex. When I was little, I used to feel bad for the toys I wasn’t playing with and would quickly run over to them to apologize for leaving them out of the fun (this was probably due, in part, to this 1986 Christmas movie by Jim Henson that led me to believe my toys were alive).
If you are still reading, appreciate my quirk, and are finding yourself nodding your head in agreement, then this recipe for Apple Scrap Jelly is for you! (And the good news is, we might not be the strange ones. It is now trendy and hip to be environmentally conscious and reduce your waste.)
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Ingredients:
- Apple peels and cores from about 20 apples
- 6 cups of water
- 6 TBSP classic pectin
- 9 cups of white sugar
- Cheesecloth
Directions:
1. Peel the apples. Prepare your canner, lids, and jars.
2. Cook the peels and cores in 6 cups of water until soft (30-45 minutes).
3. Place cheesecloth inside of a strainer. Pour the apple parts and water into the cheesecloth and allow them to drain. Don’t squeeze out the excess liquid or your jelly will be cloudy!
4. Add water to the liquid, as needed, to obtain a total of 7 cups. Put the 7 cups of liquid back into your clean pot. Add classic pectin and bring to a rapid boil.
5. Add sugar, stir, and boil hard for 1 minute. You’ll know it’s ready when the jelly starts to bubble up the pot. Remove the pot from the heat.
This is a PERFECT recipe for when I make applesauce each fall! Thank you so much for sharing, I’m so pinning this! I hope to see you at our next #PinUP Pin Party… we host them every Friday 🙂
Thank you for sharing. I have always thought it was a waste to throw all the scraps in the garbage. Making today as I made apple pie filling yesterday.
Awesome!!
can the peels and cores be frozen first? like so that i dont need to peel 20 apples all at once and can just toss the peels and cores into the freezer through the week instead and make this on the weekend
I’ve never tried that before. The only thing I can think of is you might lose some color because of oxidation. Go for it and let me know how it turns out!!
This is the second time i made this recipe. This time I saved peels and cores in freezer bags since December because i didnt want to pull out all my canning supplies. Took them out last week, put them in a pot in the morning, left the water from the thaw in the pot and followed the recipe. It turned out the same from the frozen scraps as it did when i made it with the “fresh” scraps. No difference in flavour or colour….was great both ways!!!
Wow! Excellent feedback. Thank you!
Freezing Works fine. I kept zip lock in freezer and added as I had apple scraps til I had enough for scrap apple jelly. I let them thaw over night and continue as recipe says
Yes! I save mine up in freezer bags until needed.
Hi, to answer Ashley’s question, you can freeze them, it allows them to be collected over time and then used all together. I make something similar called compost jelly (doesn’t sound as pretty) but it uses citrus peel scraps too. In the past I’ve flavored it with herbs , spices or chillis for variation.
Thanks for helping out!
I was curious about the freezing. I’ve kept peels and cores in my freezer for soup stock. I love this idea. Thanks.
Others say freezing the peels and cores works fine!
is there a version of this to use stevia instead of sugar?
I don’t know. I don’t like the taste of Stevia, so don’t use it.
9 cups of sugar seems like a lot, would it still jell with less?
If you use Pomona pectin, available at Whole Foods, you control how muchmsugar you add or honey or sugar substitute.
I made something similar to this, with 5 c. of juice, 7 cups of sugar, and 1 box of Surejell. It gelled beautifully! I had enough cores and peels to fill a 5qt pot. The apples were Pink Lady and Gala. The jelly is a fantastic clear pink color.
All I had on hand was liquid pectin so I used 5 tablespoons and 9 cups of sugar.. but it doesn’t look like it’s going to set up. Then water bathed it for 5 minutes. Let it set in water bath afterward for 5. Any ideas on what to do with it or how to make it jell? Thank you!
My friend who used the wrong pectin enjoyed the recipe as apple syrup for pancakes, and said it was still delicious. Maybe you could that too! To make it set like jelly, use classic pectin, as specified in the recipe.
Could you tell me how many jars you got from one batch? Also, is classic pectin the same as powdered pectin? I have lots of those little boxes around.
It should say classic pectin on the box if that is what it is. As for the # of jars, I wish I could remember. I didn’t make apple scrap jelly this year, and don’t remember how many I ended up with years prior.
I just made a batch and I got 8- 1/2 pints and a whole pint plus a little left over, I just put it in a dish and put in fridge. will have it on toast for breakfast. My apples were very sweet, so only used 7 cups of sugar. not sure yet how it will set up. some recipes I have read say to add 1/2 cup sugar for each 1 cup of liquid. We shall see.
A friend linked me to this recipe, and I gave it a try today while I was making applesauce. I ended up with 11 half-pint jars; probably would have 12, but I spilled some toward the end. I’m so excited to have something different (and delicious) for teacher gifts!
Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
i was wondering i didn’t hvae the classic pectin and no store in town had it in stock. i had to order from amazon took a few days. i already put my apples and cores in the water and make the liquid i needed before hand. its in the frig ready to make this. i was wondering do i need to heat it up again and then make sure 7 cups are equal again or do i just start with adding the pectin and then bring to the boil. i don’t want to mess it up. also can i do 2 recipes at once or not?
I would pick up from where you left off. I also don’t see why you couldn’t double the recipe if you wish! Hope that helps!
What it u don’t have a cheese cloth
You could try using a clean cotton t-shirt?
New panty hose legs or knee highs work great too.
I made this over this past weekend, added just about a teaspoon of cinnamon and it’s amazing! I had a case of apples and hated to throw away all the peel and cores; so I hit Pinterest and came across your Pin for this. I’m SO glad that I did!
How long do I need to let them sit before we can eat them? The pectin says like a few weeks or so something like that
Follow the direction on your pectin.
I made it the first time exactly how the recipe states, but it did not get very firm. So today i did it again and used:
6 cups water (instead of 7 cups) 8
8 1/3 cups of sugar (instead of 9)
7 Tbsp of classic pectin (instead of 6 Tbsp)
and
boiled it for 4 minutes (instead of 1 min)
worked like a charm and is delicious.
PS I used 100% apple berry juice instead of water
Cool! I bet the juice is why it didn’t set the first time. Good thing you made adjustments!
I made this once with friends and once alone… and both times, it didn’t get very firm… I like the taste, so I think I will try this next time. Thanks!
If I use something like Suregel couldn’t I just use the same amount of juice and the amount of Suregel recommended in the instructions on their recipe sheet ?
I meant to say the liquid from the apple scraps and water instead of juice
Thanks for the recipe! I have used this recipe a few times to make jelly, and it turns out beautiful!
How long are the jars of jelly good for? Should I refrigerate after opening a jar?
Yes, you should always refrigerate jams and jellies after opening.
I used to make this every fall when I was making home canned applesauce or apple butter to use the scraps. One important thing to consider is if you are going to save the peels to use make sure your apples are organic and well washed, otherwise you are preserving a pretty tasty spread of concrntrated pesticides.
Yes, that is very true.
Do you think I could add jalapenos to this recipe to make an apple pepper jelly?
Probably. I would consult a canning book to make sure you don’t have to alter any other ingredients. Apple pepper jelly sounds delicious!
This jelly is fantastic! I feel like I get more for my money by using the scraps. Beautiful color and the grand kids love it. It’s so easy to make even if you are a beginner!
This is great! We make apple cider every year from the trees in our yard. I always use the leftover bits for a jelly base. So yummy!
This is a great idea. We’ve used similar recipes for many years, but we throw in a package of plain Kool-aid too. Any flavor will do, but strawberry is a sure pleaser.
August 18, 2018 … When I make jelly, jam or any other kind of preserves, I do it so I have it over winter … so my rule is this: make your jam, jelly or other preserves then after washing the outter jar & putting a sticker to say what’s inside, I put them into the box the empty jars came in … then I don’t allow myself to open the jar until the first snowfall (otherwise it’ll all be eaten before the winter – LOL) … the reason I wait until then, it allows the flavours to meld together & allows time for it to jell better especially if it’s a very hot summer … great as gifts, for dessert fillings, & sometimes I’ll put 2 or 3 tablespoons in a cup & add boiling water to make it an herbal tea (no caffine) … it’s great to have on hand whenever you want something different to enjoy … it can also be used on vanilla ice cream …. mmmmmm
Wow! I thought at age 86 that I knew pretty much about cooking. However, I am continuing to learn from this younger generation of great cooks. I only wish that I had seen this about 24 hours earlier. I just made a huge batch of Apple Butter, and almost cried at the thought of throwing away all those scraps from the apples. It was trash day,though, and I wanted not to have garbage in my garage until next week, so out it went….and tonight I sat down to try and find a solution. I found it! Thanks to you! I will be making more before the holidays, so next time I will not only have a solution, but 9or 10 more jars for
gifts. Love you smart girls!🍎🍎🍎
What a sweet comment! So glad you found us, Georgia!