Jane’s Orchard #3

Crab apple. Neither Rob nor I can remember planting a crab apple, but there is now a very large one at the top of the orchard, so either we did plant it or some bird did!
It has quite large oval shaped fruit, and this year they have ripened well and have some red on the skins.
It always surprises me how little juice you get from a pound of stewed apples. Today I cooked 6lbs with 3 pints of water, and only got 21/2 pints back. Very strange!
It has made some beautiful red jelly, though it’s one of the trickiest to cook well as it starts to set as soon as you turn off the heat. This means that as you try to bottle it it tends to trap bubbles. Some of this is good, and the rest will be gobbled by my son who adores it!