Æblegelé

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large heavy-bottomed pot, 5 litre or larger
• •Jelly bag or a double layer of muslin cloth
• •Deep bowl for collecting strained juice overnight
• •Wide heavy pot for boiling the jelly (wider is better)
• •Sterilized glass jars with lids, 4 x 250ml
• •Small plate, kept in the freezer for the wrinkle test

Instructions

1. 1

   Quarter the apples

   Wash the apples and cut them into quarters. Do not peel them. Do not core them. Leave the skins, seeds, and stems exactly where they are. This is important: the pectin that will set your jelly lives in the skin and the seeds and the fibrous core. Remove them and you're throwing away the ingredient that makes the whole thing work. A few bruised spots are fine. Cut away anything actually rotten, but don't fuss over imperfections. These apples are giving you their juice, not sitting in a bowl looking beautiful.

   The best apples for gelé are tart and underripe rather than sweet and soft. A sour apple straight from the tree in late September has more pectin than a sweet one picked in October. If you're buying rather than picking, choose the firmest, most tart variety you can find.
2. 2

   Boil the apples

   Put the quartered apples in a large, heavy pot and add the cold water and lemon juice. The water should just cover the fruit. If it doesn't quite, that's fine. The apples will release their own liquid as they cook. Bring everything to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer gently for forty-five minutes to an hour. Don't stir. Stirring breaks the fruit apart too early and clouds the juice. You want the apples to collapse slowly on their own, softening into a pale, pulpy mass that smells of warm orchards. When they've lost all their structure and the liquid is golden and fragrant, they're done.

   The lemon juice does two things. It helps extract pectin from the apples, and it keeps the finished jelly bright. Without it, the color dulls to something murky. One lemon is enough.
3. 3

   Strain overnight

   Set a jelly bag or a large piece of muslin over a deep bowl. If you're using muslin, double it and tie it to the legs of an upturned stool so it hangs freely over the bowl. Pour the apple pulp and all its liquid into the cloth and let it drip. Walk away. Go to bed. This is the joy of waiting. The juice needs eight to twelve hours to strain through, and what collects in the bowl overnight will be clear and pale gold, almost luminous. Do not squeeze the bag. I know you'll want to. Your hands will itch to wring out every last drop. But squeezing forces pulp through the cloth and makes the jelly cloudy. Cloudy jelly tastes the same but loses its beauty, and the beauty is half the point.

   If you don't have a jelly bag, a clean cotton pillowcase works perfectly. Dampen it first so it doesn't absorb the juice.
4. 4

   Measure juice and sugar

   The next morning, measure the strained juice. You should have roughly a litre, sometimes a little more, sometimes less. The apples decide. For every litre of juice, weigh out 750 grams of granulated sugar. This ratio gives a jelly that sets firmly enough to hold its shape on a knife but trembles when you touch the jar. Less sugar and it won't set. More and it tastes of sugar instead of apples.

5. 5

   Boil to setting point

   Pour the juice into a wide, heavy pot. A wide pot matters because the greater the surface area, the faster the water evaporates, and fast evaporation is what concentrates the pectin and brings you to a set. Add the sugar and stir over low heat until it dissolves completely. Then raise the heat and bring the liquid to a full, rolling boil. Let it boil hard for fifteen to twenty-five minutes. Don't stir once it's boiling. Watch the surface. At first the bubbles are loose and frothy. As the jelly approaches its setting point, the bubbles become smaller, tighter, more glassy. The color deepens from pale gold to a clear amber. The liquid thickens on the spoon. You'll know when it's right.

   The wrinkle test is the most reliable way to check the set. Before you start boiling, put a small plate in the freezer. When you think the jelly is ready, drop a teaspoon of liquid onto the cold plate, wait thirty seconds, and push it with your finger. If the surface wrinkles, the jelly is set. If it runs, boil for another three minutes and test again.
6. 6

   Skim the surface

   Once the jelly reaches its setting point, take the pot off the heat. There will be a thin layer of foam on the surface. Skim it away with a spoon. The foam is harmless but it clouds the jelly and you've come this far for clarity. A small knob of butter stirred gently through the hot liquid will dissolve any stubborn foam that clings. Let the jelly rest in the pot for five minutes before pouring. This brief rest lets tiny air bubbles rise and disappear.

7. 7

   Jar the jelly

   Pour the hot jelly carefully into sterilized jars, filling each one to within half a centimetre of the rim. Seal immediately with sterilized lids. As the jelly cools, the lids will pull down with a small click. That click is the seal forming, and it means the jar will keep for months in a cool, dark cupboard. Turn the jars upside down for five minutes after sealing, then right them again. This sterilizes the small pocket of air at the top. When the jelly is fully cooled, it will be clear, trembling, the color of late September light through a window.

   Sterilize your jars by washing them in hot soapy water, rinsing well, and placing them in a 120C oven for fifteen minutes. Keep them hot until you're ready to pour. Cold glass and hot jelly don't agree.

Chef Tips

• •Use the most tart, firm apples you can find. Sweetness is not what you want here. The sugar provides the sweetness. The apples provide the pectin and the flavor. A mix of varieties gives more complexity than a single type. If you can get your hands on apples from a garden tree that nobody tends, even better. Those unsprayed, unglamorous fruits often have more character than anything cultivated.
• •Don't squeeze the jelly bag. I'll say it twice because you will be tempted. The difference between a clear gelé and a cloudy one is the difference between something you're proud to give as a gift and something you keep for yourself. Let it drip. Walk away.
• •The wrinkle test on a cold plate is more reliable than a thermometer for home cooks. Setting point is around 104C, but altitude, humidity, and the pectin content of your particular apples all shift the number. The wrinkle test tells you what's actually happening in the pot, not what a number says should be happening.
• •Æblegelé makes one of the best gifts from a Danish kitchen. Pour it into small jars with good lids, and you have something for every host, every neighbour, every friend who drops by in December. Cooked with love, and it shows.

Advance Preparation

• •This is a two-day recipe by nature. Boil the apples and set them to strain on the first evening. Boil the jelly the next morning. The overnight wait isn't a delay, it's a step.
• •Sealed jars of æblegelé keep for up to a year in a cool, dark cupboard. Once opened, refrigerate and use within four weeks.
• •If you want to make this ahead for Christmas giving, October is the ideal month. The apples are at their best and you'll have jars ready well before December.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 20g)