Crab Apple Crazy - A Collection of Recipes | PreparednessMama (2024)

FAQs

What can you do with crab apples? ›

They're excellent in desserts such as pies, chips, and tarts. Crab apple enthusiasts also love making them into jelly or jam. The high levels of pectin in these fruits help to give jelly or jam its jiggly texture. It's up to you how you use these little apples.

Use crabapple jelly as you would any other jelly — spread on toast, scones, or biscuits. Warm slightly and brush onto grilled pork chops or a pork roast. Melt the jelly and use it as a glaze for apple or pear tart or a bread pudding. Serve as a condiment with pâté or a cheese platter.

Tip crab apples into preserving pan (no need to cut them up). Add enough water to just cover them. Bring to the boil, simmer and stir now and then until the fruit has turned mushy. Allow to cool a little and then pour into a jelly bag and leave to strain overnight into a large bowl.

Freezing temperatures make the crab apples soft and sweet, so they taste better when it's cold outside. Alternately, you could pick them when ripe in fall and stick them in your freezer for a couple days.

YES! Crab apples are perfectly safe to eat and though smaller in size, they contain all the healthy nutrients found in domesticated apples. As with other apples, do not eat the core or seeds which contain a toxic compound that can turn into cyanide when eaten.

Is It Safe To Eat Crab Apples? Yes, crab apples can safely be eaten cooked or raw. “They're most commonly used in baked goods or jellies and jams due to their high level of pectin,” explains Edwards. “Most people do not eat them raw because they are so tart, though some varieties are sweeter than others when raw.”

The traditional way to make crab apple cider is pressing them in a cider press. After pressing, the juice can be made into fermented crab apple cider.

Perfect weather to stay indoors and to things with our crab apples! I decided to use the small amount of apples from one tree to make apple cider vinegar. A recipe I found called for filling a quart jar 3/4's full, and it seemed I had enough to do that with just these.

Storage tips: Some varieties last a few days, while others will last for a few months. For best results, store them in a sealed container in the fridge as crabapples can pick up flavours from other foods like apples do. Crabapples also freeze well.

Do you need to remove seeds from crab apples? ›

If you definitively have a crab apple on your hands, be sure to avoid the seeds and core. The seeds contain cyanogenic glycoside, which your body metabolizes into cyanide, a toxic compound.

To prepare juice, combine crabapples with enough water to cover in a Dutch oven. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, until fruit is soft. Mash crabapples occasionally while cooking. Strain through a jelly bag.

Crabapples ripen in late summer through fall. The amount of rainfall during the growing season will determine the taste and quality of the crabapples. A dry season results in dry, mealy fruit, A wet season produces more juicy, succulent fruit. As crabapples ripen they become sweeter.

Deer congregate around fruit- and nut-bearing trees. In fact, white oak and sawtooth acorns, persimmons, and crabapples are what deer will eat first, even before a lush food plot.

However, as with all apples, it's not healthy to eat either the seeds, the stem, or the core. These should be removed or avoided. While crab apples have a lifespan that can last weeks or months after falling from the tree, they eventually turn brown and become moldy if left too long.

Freezing Crabapples for Pie, Crisps or Cobblers

Fruit may be frozen in a flattened shape to fit into an unbaked pie shell or cobbler dish. Before freezing, fit the plastic bag of prepared crabapples into the pie plate or dish, freeze, then remove plate or dish and store crabapples in freezer.

Most crab apples are actually quite sweet when they are ripe. Small in size, they pack a ton of flavor that's perfect for fresh eating! Most crab apples will keep in cold storage for at least a month (or more), so be sure to save some of your harvest for fresh eating.