Spiced Crab Apples

Considering their ubiquity 50 years ago it is stunning how completely Spiced Crab Apples disappeared from the American diet, a victim of the death of home canning and commercial versions with lurid red coloring and no flavor. They became a joke, then forgotten. My farm visits are now mostly in summer and too early for apple anything, but occasionally there will be Whitney crab apples, a reminder of the pickles my grandmother made from them. A few years back I decided to revive this tradition.

I had Grandma's recipe but knew I'd have to improve on it to withstand the impossible perfection of memory. First I took out the water and added apple juice, then some favorite spices. One Farmer's Market customer was reduced to tears; "I haven't had these since my grandmother died 50 years ago!" Here is your chance to renew old memories or make new ones. Enjoy with cheese or main course meats, pork, ham, turkey. For the novice: you will place them on the side of your plate and pick them up to eat them off the core as you would any apple.

Ingredients: crab apples, apple juice, sugar, cider vinegar, spices.
16 oz., 1 pt.

Want to make them? Find the recipe here (PDF)