If you’ve read any of my numerous crabapple posts (I can’t help it, I’m a fan.), you’ve heard me say that smaller crabapples often have a mealy texture. This recipe calls for larger crabapples (more than an inch in diameter). Sample one before harvesting a lot; you want crisp, snappy crabapples for this pickled fruit. Spiced crabapples make an unusual, tasty side dish for pork, turkey, or chicken, and boy do they look pretty on the plate. And if you’re a cocktail aficionado, spiced crabapples are the perfect garnish for a Kentucky Belle (bourbon and crabapple) cocktail.
What You’ll Need to Make Spiced Crabapples
- 4 cups crabapples
- 2 1/4 cups vinegar
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 3 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried, ground spicebush berries (you may substitute allspice)
- 2 teaspoons dried, ginger stolons (or 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced)
- You’ll also need four half-pint canning jars with lids.
What You’ll Do to Make Spiced Crabapples
Wash the crabapples and leave the stems in place. (You’ll use the stems later, to lift individual crabapples from the jar.) Use a toothpick to prick each crabapple in two or three places.
Place the spicebush berries and ginger stolons (or their substitutes) in a spice bag or tea ball. In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, water, and sugar, and bring the mixture to a boil, whisking to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat and add the spices, simmering the mixture for five minutes. Remove from the heat and let the liquid cool.
Add the pricked crabapples to the cooled liquid and heat them gradually. You don’t want the apple skins to burst, which is why you pricked the skins before heating. Keep the liquid just below a boil, and if you notice any crabapple skins cracking, reduce the heat. The whole skin-cracking thing is for aesthetics only. Pickled fruit with cracked skin is perfectly safe to eat, it just isn’t as pretty.
Heat the crabapples for five minutes, then pour them into a bowl, along with the brine and the spice bag, and loosely cover the bowl. Let it sit overnight.
Remove the spice bag and divide the crabapples and brine between four, half-pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headpsace. These pickles will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator or can be processed in a boiling water bath for 25 minutes for longer storage.
Is there anyway I can purchase the crabapples from you? If not, where can I find them for purchase?
I don’t know of anyone who sells crabapples; depending on where you live, you’ll be able to harvest them between September and November.
Plant the tree in your yard. The Spring flowers are AWESOME!
i remember having these as a child,and cinnamon apples mmmm
I love these spiced crabapples. Just wondering does the bowl sit overnight on the counter or refrigerator before processing the next day?
I leave them on the counter. The brine is acidic enough to make it safe. If that makes you uncomfortable, you may refrigerate.
Can you drink the pickled juice from the spiced crabapples
It’s safe to drink, but would have a pretty strong vinegar flavor. Too strong for me, but my husband likes it.
I remember, as a little kid, having spiced whole crabapples that my grandmother canned. The fruit was soft so you could just suck the fruit off the core. I have a crab apple tree in my yard and when my kids were little I found my grandmother’s recipe and made several jars. Her recipe didn’t have vinegar, it was just a spice syrup. My kids enjoyed them initially but I think it was just the novelty of them and eventually they weren’t so keen to eat them. But one day I decided to take that beautiful pink syrup and simmer it down so it became a little thicker and we absolutely adored it on pancakes. So if you ever decide to make an unpickled version of spiced crab apples hold on to that syrup!
That is the way my grandmother made her spiced crabapples. No vinegar, only sugar, crabapples, water & whole cloves. It was not a sweet condiment but a tart one. Yes the syrup can be sweeter or more tart, it’s up to the individual. Love your version!!!