You can make many variations of this easy fridge jelly recipe if you’d like to include an herb like rosemary or thyme, or swap out the crab apples for apples, pears, or quince. You can also add some lemon juice or lemon peel during the final stages of this process when boiling the strained liquid with dissolved sugar, and I sometimes add a few star anise for an additional layer of flavor and a nice visual in the jars.
Ingredients
- Approximately 1½ pounds of rowan berries, pulled from their stems
- Approximately 1½ pounds crab apples, whole (defrosted if previously frozen)
- Water
- 4-5 cups white sugar
Preparation
Sanitize a few heat-proof jars and lids. Place the washed rowan berries and crab apples in a pot and cover them with water, making sure you have at least 5 cups of water in the pot. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer, mashing the produce with a potato masher as soon as it is soft enough. Allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes.
Strain your mixture through cheesecloth into a second pot, lightly pressing, until the majority of the liquid has drained out. Discard the fruit pulp.
Measure the liquid in cups. You should have 4 or so cups of berry juice at this point. Place on the stove and add the equivalent cup amount of white sugar. Bring to a boil and keep at a steady boil, stirring periodically, until the jelly reaches gel point. The top should look foamy at this point, and you can do a spoon test or a cold plate test to determine that the jelly has set.
Once gel point has been reached, carefully pour the liquid into sanitized glass, heat-proof jars and cover with sanitized lids. Allow the jelly to cool at room temperature. Stored in the refrigerator, this jelly will last several months or longer.
