How To: Turn Unripe Apples into Pectin Stock

‘Tis still just about the season to be thinning apples, and also of early windfalls. The result is likely to be buckets and buckets of under-ripe, mostly rock-hard fruitlets. I’ve been doing a fair bit of thinning on the trees at work recently, and quite a few visitors have asked what we do with the picked-off fruitlets. The answer I give is that because they’re pretty much 100% starch at this stage, with very little sugar content to make them edible, they go onto the compost heaps. But there is an alternative use for them: making pectin stock.

Pectin, as any jam- or jelly-maker knows, is essential for a good, firm set of your fruity conserve. And different fruits contain different amounts of pectin. Some fruits – crab apples, currants, gooseberries, most citrus fruits, and unripe apples to name a few – have quite high levels of pectin in their skin, seeds and internal membranes. Others – cherries, grapes, strawberries, peaches, pears and riper apples, for instance – have low to no pectin content.

To make a well-set jelly or jam from the latter class of fruits, you’ll need to add pectin, either via powdered pectin, by using “jam sugar” which has pectin added, or by making your own pectin stock.

The pectin stock method is simplicity itself, as this (ever-so slightly adapted) recipe from food.com details:

• Slice unpeeled apples including cores and seeds into a large kettle (stock pot or saucepan).
• Add water (2 cups or around 480ml per 1lb of fruit).
• Cover and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Do not overcook.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
• Pour pulp and juice through a damp jelly bag or four layers of cheesecloth and allolw to drip undisturbed into a large bowl for 4 hours to overnight.
• Place apple juice in a large pot and bring to a boil.
• Boil rapidly until volume is reduced by half.
• Quickly ladle into hot, sterlized pint or half-pint jars leaving 1/4 inch head space, and seal the jars.
• Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Alternatively, you can pour the pectin stock into portion-sized plastic tubs and then freeze them. That way you can defrost a tub, or two, or three, depending on how much low-pectin jam or jelly you’re making in a batch, to add to a pan of simmering fruit as required.

For more information on pectin – sources, uses, health benefits, commercial versions and a couple more make-your-own methods -check out the hugely informative article on the subject on the website preservingsweetness.com, courtesy of “Jelly Grandma” Anne.

How about you? Do you make your own pectin stock? Do you have an alternate method or recipe? How much pectin stock would you recommend adding to various jam recipes? Do please let me know, via the comments.