apple molasses / cider jelly

I neglected to mention another new favorite of mine for 3rd rate fruit: apple molasses. This is really a boiled cider gone full throttle. Having first experimented with decent quality drops, we simmered them to syrup on the woodstove for hours and wound up with some really nice molasses- think malt syrup consistency. A very nice addition to the culinary arsenal, and certainly marketable. Likely one of the few processes, aside from alcohol, that can do in patulin toxin.

Walden Heights Nursery & Orchard
Zone 3 in Vermont



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2014 08:33AM by Michael Phillips.

Hmmmm.... apple molasses.... or apple jelly..... I'm not sure what we came up with.... we pressed some Red Harralson apples that weren't up to their usual keeping qualities... usually keeping well into May in the old farmhouse cellar.... Then we cooked that cider down.... and down... Having read in The Apple Grower that jelly is at 220 degrees and seeing that it was not getting sticky at that temperature, we kept 'er rollin' to about 230 degrees....

Then being faint of heart, we thought it might be fine.... and poured it into 125 ml canning jars.... where it looks suspiciously like maple syrup.... not like jelly.

Did we just go for a variety that has no pectin? Or not take it hot and thick enough? Or ???????

any advice will help us keep rolling along.

Looking at shaking what's left on the tree and gathering and juicing it for ice cider.... since it's definitely gotten well frozen with -12 C degree weather twice....
not sure what ice cider's difference's will be compared to regular cider... so, quite curious.... I'm guesseing more sugar, less water..... and I don't have to anything else different.??

I will get that new book on cider making.... tho' not today... today is still racing with the weather and the season outdoors.
Thanks for being there to talk to
Robbie

Morninglory Farm
Zone 3b* in Ontario

We have been experimenting with apple cider jelly, after being inspired by Michael. We put juice in a big pot on the wood stove at low heat and gently reduce it down to one ninth of it's original volume. This can easily be determined by using a measuring stick (so long as the reducing pan has vertical sides). The trick seems to be to do it very slowly, so that it doesn't burn.

The end result is delicious, and keeps without refrigeration.

If you don't reduce it down to close to one ninth, it may go mouldy

Kalangadoo Orchard
On the “other side” in South Australia

Yes, this is an old, very old, way to keep juice. You probably get approximately the same brix this way as with maple syrup.
This is also done with other fruit juice such as grape. It often called "raisiné" and although this name refers to the raisins (or grapes) it is also used for apple.
I have a friend that does it, and it is quite bitter, not to be eaten by itself on a piece of bread, but he had done a "Cheesecake au raisiné" which was awsome.

For my part, I did boil some apple juice this fall but didn't reduce it that much... I have a small maple syrup evaporator and boiled some juice to obtain a SG of 1.140 - I have started a fire cider fermentation with this....

Jolicoeur Orchard
Zone 4 in Quebec

It may be important to note the temperature line for some of this. At 220 degrees F (104 C) the cider should jell without issue, so up to 219 theoretically you can maintain syrup/molasses. If the agitation is lacking a lumpy syrup may result (been there).

Regarding moldy syrup, the standard reduction is 7 to 1. It is more likely that something like maple syrup will mold more readily if not canned, due to the low acid content, whereas cider syrup may be off the charts for acid. This last point bears mentioning for those who are accustomed to a the subtleties of maple or other lite syrups. Cider syrup, and jelly from a boiled syrup can be pretty intense. We have found that truly boiling the cider results in a stronger brew (more molasses like). Generally, you are going to increase tannin, acid and other non volatile chemicals along with the sugars. Awesome to this boy, but can take some getting use to.

Since the outcome is similar to the reduction created through freezing, taking the temp in the opposite direction can help concentrate things. We can freeze the cider, like we would in ice cider production or apple jack making. Around 25 degrees F should allow for the pure water to freeze and leave a sugary mass as liquid. This can then be further reduced with heat.

I hope most folks with the set up to do so, to use passive or renewable means to reduce. Wood fired evaporators, residual heat from wood stoves, low temperature evaporation, and natural freezing are good starts. Even if the bulk of the reduction is done with these methods (for syrup or other fruit jellies) and finished up on the stove, we can help reduce the use of fossil fuels for our processes.

Walden Heights Nursery & Orchard
Zone 3 in Vermont

Hmmmm is right Robbie. We call ours cider syrup. Found recipe about 25 years ago in Mother Earth News--called New England Boiled Cider Syrup. We did some test batches and decided to invest in an evaporator from good old Grimm Bros. in Vermont. That good ol' 219-220 degrees was when "it" (fresh cider) became syrup. We boil it as fast as we can and the roiling keeps it mixed up (direct flame on stainless). We skim the solids as they start to float to the top--during the first hour. It takes around 4 1/2 hours to bring 30 gals to a little over 6 gals of syrup. Roughly 5 to 1 reduction. We do four batches over each weekend during harvest. The smell brings people in off the road. We put it away in 5 gal hot pak buckets to bottle later when we have time. We reheat to around 190 degrees for a short time and then bottle as sales proceed. So, I cannot fathom a 9-1 reduction for molasses. I think here (California) at 9-1 it would become crystallized. I hear you Todd about wood burning (regulated or prohibited in some counties out here) and that propane is getting almost prohibitedly expensive--we just keep raising the price as needed and sales have not slowed down--in fact have steadily increased 10-15% a year lately. Sometimes raising the price makes people think it something precious (it is) so they gotta have it. We are curently getting $18 for 500ml--I think we are the only source west of the Mississippi, so no price shopping. Hmmmm, Ice Cider is something I'd like to try but our freezer experiments were for naught and it never gets cold enough for the trad method.