Cornelian Cherry and Apple Jelly is a traditional British recipe for a classic jelly made from a blend of apples and Cornelian cherries that's typically served with pork and white meats. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Cornelian Cherry and Apple Jelly.
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This is much less tart that the more usual Cornelian Cherry jellies, but I like to make it to serve with pork or wild boar. It also makes an interesting accompaniment to Christmas or Thanksgiving turkey.
Note that unripe Cornelian Cherries are very astringent in flavour, but fully ripe fruit are sweet and very tasty with a sour aftertaste. When ripe, the fruit are a ruby red in colour. In Britain, however, they do not ripen fully until they have fallen from the tree. Collect them when they have fallen, place on newspaper in a box and set on a sunny windowsill to ripen.
Ingredients:
500g Cornelian cherries, freed of their stalks
500g crabapples (or tart cooking apples), roughly chopped
420g sugar per 500ml of liquid
Method:
Combine the Cornelian cherries and chopped apples in a large pan. Pour in enough water to just cover the fruit then bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid, reduce the heat slightly and simmer gently until the fruit are reduced to a pulp (between 30 and 40 minutes).
Take the pan off the heat then turn its contents into a jelly bag and set aside to drain naturally into a bowl (do not be tempted to press down on the fruit pulp, or the final jelly will be cloudy). It's best to allow the juice to drip naturally from the fruit over night.
The following morning, measure the volume of juice then weight out 420g of sugar for every 500ml of juice. Combine the rowan and apple juice and sugar in a saucepan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved then bring to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, for 30 minutes. AFter this time test for setting.
Put a plate in the refrigerator to cool for at least 30 minutes. When you think the jell is ready, place a teaspoon of the jelly mix on the plate then move with your thumb. If the jelly form a skin it's ready for potting. If not, cook for 5 minutes more and test again.
Ladle the jelly into cleaned and sterilized jars that have been warmed in the oven. Fill the jars up to 1cm of the top (I keep old jam jars for this). Close the lids securely on the jars and set aside to cool. Label and store in a cool, dark, cupboard. They will keep the whole winter if not opened.
