Picking apples and making jelly

Alivia happened to be at the right place at the right time, and so was the first of the kids to try the apple jelly. She also helped me make the jelly and apple butter on Sunday evening, August 27.

By Allan Olson

My time spent outdoors this week with the kids was spent picking crabapples instead of geocaching or fishing, but frankly, between my schedule and the weather, neither of those were really viable options anyway.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a lead on some crabapples but knew I had to wait a little longer to get them because of my schedule and because they needed just a little more time to ripen. So I set my plans in motion and after checking with the property owners one more time, I finalized the plans for harvest.

Since I didn’t have any of the necessary canning supplies, my mother supplied me with her pots and other tools so I could get started on the process. I also reached out to friends on social media in search of some additional jars, and ended up with a dozen more – which proved just about right, when coupled with the ones I had found at a rummage sale a couple weeks back. Just to be safe, I bought 12 new quart and pint jars, too. In addition, I bought rings and seals along with wax (which I didn’t use). What I didn’t get was ointment for the burns I wound up suffering during the canning process.

The kids and I picked the apples during the week, probably taking about 3-4 hours to fill two 16-gallon totes. We also picked up some of the rotten ones to bring home for the deer – putting them in a separate box. The harvested apples, along with our canning supplies, then spent about three days just taking up space before I got around to doing anything with them.

I planned to start the process right away in the morning on Saturday, but first I had to meet my parents in Bemidji to get the canning jars I left at their place. So Abigail and I jumped in the vehicle and headed to town. A couple hours later we were back home and once again I was ready to start the process of preparing the apples. 

Then my wife said, “I have to go to town. My cousin is in the hospital and needs a couple things.” The only thing I could think of (besides ‘See you later’) was, ‘Man the amount of running we do is insane!’

I grabbed a couple buckets, some knives and, of course the apples, and started to work. All I needed to do was sort through them, cut some of the bruises off, and toss the ones I might’ve missed that were a little on the bad side. I sat down with my tablet to watch a show while I was working, and then I got some help. Marcus and Alivia decided they wanted to help with the process, they each picked up a knife, I gave them instructions, and for the next two hours they were pretty helpful. There were times when I got busy getting other things ready that they seemed to lose interest and really did not making much progress. Eventually I kicked them out of the way and they took off to play.

I got my first pot of apples boiling – about 18 pounds – but ultimately I cooked them too long and ended up with just one quart of juice after all that work – about seven quarts less than I should have. I was starting to act like the apples – crabby! All that work and that was all I got. I sent my mom a photo of my results and she informed me that I had cooked them too long. 

Nikolai then set to work, smashing the cooked apples to pulp for apple butter and we set that and the “waste” aside. I went back to peeling more and eventually got one tote done, which yielded about eight jars of juice. I figure that I still cooked them a little too long, and as a result got a lot less juice then I probably should have. And in the process of cooking the apples, I burned my arm on the rim of the pan of boiling water with the jars in it. I also got splattered numerous times (only a couple that actually hurt) and I managed to scorch a pan. All in a day’s work, right?

Throughout the process, I sent several text messages to my mom asking for her expert input. That prompted my dad to ask if it was revenge for all the computer questions they had sent me over the years. I never thought of it that way, but it sorta made sense.

In the meantime, my wife made it home from town, my cousin’s wife and kids arrived for the weekend. They came to rescue a kid’s toy that had ended up with us after our camping adventure. My wife prepared a wonderful meal of meatballs and potatoes for supper.

I returned to the peeling process right before noon on Sunday, after getting all my supplies in order. I cut the bad spots off, tossed the bad apples, and got all the good ones cut up before cooking any of them, figuring that this would be a more efficient method. Ultimately, I think it was.

This time Abigail, helped smash the cooked apples while I once again drained the juice, which I thought looked too clear, but I was informed that it looked right. My yield out of about 40 dry pounds of apples was much better, with close to 20 quarts of juice. I’m just hoping that will be enough for jelly to last the kids through next season.

I made jelly from scratch for the first time, and on the first try it turned out perfect. I also made apple butter for the first time, because all the kids said they liked it. Since they made nearly a whole loaf of bread disappear last night, I would say both were a success. I finally finished my canning project at about 9 p.m. It was a lot of work, but the jelly sure tasted great.

For the coming unofficial last weekend of summer, some of my family will be working on deer stands. I’m not sure if I will be able to make it up there, but we shall see.

With classes resuming at CL-B (and elsewhere across the state) next week, please remember to watch out for the buses that will be carrying our most precious cargo. Also, snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.