Canned Apple Peel Jelly or Syrup

This is a great recipe; its perfect for the fall when we have access to fantastic fresh local apples!  It has a beautiful color and will be very transparent if strained through a jelly bag or very opaque if squished through a sieve.  I found this recipe from Recipelink.com.

When I made this I intended to make it as a jelly, although mine came out more like a syrup {after I cooked up enough apple peels to equal one gallon/16 cups of apple "juice", I realized I only had 6 tbsp pectin}.  For us that was a fortunate mistake since my son loves this on his morning french toast, waffles or pancakes.  Actually he LOVES it; and uses it over maple syrup every day!

Ingredients for Apple Jelly:

-apple peels {and/or apple cores, enough to equal about 4 inches in the bottom of a large pot}

-5 cups water

-1 box pectin

-7 cups sugar

Ingredients for Apple Syrup:

-apple peels {and/or apple cores, enough to fill a large pot}

-15 cups water

-6 tbsp powdered pectin

-7 cups sugar

Process:

1. Add apple peels and/or cores to a 4.5 quart pot.  {There should be about 3-4 inches of apple peel in the bottom of the pot.}

2. Top apple peels with water; bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove from heat, place lid on pot and allow to sit at room temperature overnight. {Optional: Add a cinnamon stick to the mixture while mixture is resting overnight; for apple cinnamon jelly/syrup.}

4. Strain mixture into a large measuring cup or container {I used a 1 gallon pitcher with a colander on top.}

5. You should end up with 5 cups apple "juice"

6. Return apple "juice" to pot, dissolve pectin into "juice" and bring to a full boil over high heat.

7. Add sugar to apple "juice" all at once.  Stir to dissolve, return to a rolling boil and boil for about 1 minute.

8. Remove from heat and ladle into hot 1/2 pint of pint canning jars, top with canning lid and ring, place in hot water bath.
9. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
10. Remove lid, allow to sit for 5 minutes; then remove from canner to a wire rack or clean kitchen towel.

Enjoy jelly as you would any other jelly.

Enjoy syrup for breakfast over pancakes, waffles, french toast or dessert over angel food cake or even warmed over vanilla ice cream!  Yum!