Spiced Crab Apples
Submitted by: Her son & daughter-in-law, Gordon and Meg Scoffield and Judith Ueland / Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Who passed this recipe down to you? Mom/mother-in-law Mildred Catherine (Johnston) Scoffield (1911 – 1968)
Recipe origin: Midway/Bridesville, British Columbia, Canada
How old is this recipe? 100+ years old
The story behind the recipe:
Crab apples might be difficult to come by these days but they were hardy trees and usually had a good crop of fruit each year.
Mildred’s son and daughter-in-law, Gordon & Meg Scoffield, used this recipe for a recipe book Meg edited for the 100th Anniversary of the Presbyterian Church in Canada (1875 -1975).
Mildred Johnston Scoffield was the older sister of my father, Dan Johnston. They were both children of Joseph Johnston and Beatrice Viola McCarthy. Although there were only seven years between them, he always looked up to her. Being the eldest daughter, Mildred helped her mother (as eldest daughters did in those days) with the younger children. Mildred undoubtedly assisted her mother with the cooking and this recipe could possibly have been passed on to her in this way. She was born in Midway, BC in 1911, married in 1930, but spent most of her married life in Port Alberni, BC.
Ingredients:
4 pounds crab apples
1 tablespoon whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks (each 3" long)
2½ cups white vinegar
1 teaspoon whole ginger
2 cups water
4 cups sugar
How to make it:
Wash and remove blossom ends of apples. Prick each several times.
Heat vinegar, water and sugar to boiling. Add spices tied loosely in cheesecloth bag. Cook part of crab apples in syrup for 2 minutes. Remove, add more, repeat until all are cooked. Pour syrup with spice bag over apples and let stand overnight.
In the morning, remove spice bag. Pack apples into clean, hot preserve jars. Heat syrup to boiling. Pour over fruit. Process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes.