Sloe and Bramley Apple Jelly Recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Jam Jelly and Preserves | 110 comments
Tiny pot of sloe and apple jelly
This recipe makes a good raunchy jelly to eat with red meat, game and strong cheese. It’s also great as a sauce base for red meat, such as lamb chops. Danny usually adds a generous dollop to his pheasant casserole and dinky individual game pies, rather than adding a slug of port or sloe gin. As Sloe and Bramley Jelly has a good, strong depth of flavour it is definitely worth making a decent batch for your store cupboard. We use a bit more sugar than the usual 1pt/1lb ratio with this jelly and this seems to work well as we always use cooking apples.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 pounds/700g sloes, washed
- 1 1/2 pounds/700g of bramley cooking apples (ideal) or any other cooking apples. We use windfalls as they won’t keep.
- Sugar (1 UK pint/750ml/2 1/2 cups of strained juice to 1 1/2 pounds/700g of white granulated sugar, if using cooking apples. 1 pint/750ml/2 1/2 cups of strained juice to 1 pound/454g if using sweet eating apples).
Method:
- Wash the apples, cut out bad bits and chop roughly. There is no need to peel or core the apples.
Place sloes and apples in a large deep heavy bottomed saucepan, or preserving pan. - Add water to cover ½ of the fruit. Bring slowly to the boil and simmer very gently until all the fruit is soft and squishy. (This can take anything from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on how ripe the fruit is.)
- Pour the cooked fruit through sterilised muslin (how do I sterilise muslin? See tips and tricks below). The muslin is often referred to as a “jelly bag”. We use tall buckets to catch the drips from the jelly bags. Rather than hang the bags (conventional method-between two stools) I find it easier to line a large plastic sieve with the muslin. This clips neatly onto the top of a clean bucket. The sieve is covered with a clean tea cloth to protect against flies.
- Leave the jelly bag to drip overnight (or about 12 hours).
- Measure the juice the next day.
- Pour the juice into a deep heavy bottomed saucepan and add 1½ lb/700g of white granulated sugar for each 1pt/570ml of juice.
Heat the juice and sugar gently stirring from time to time, so as to make sure that that all the sugar has dissolved before bringing the liquid slowly to the boil. - Continue to boil for about 10 minutes before testing for a set. This is called a rolling boil. (What is testing for a set? See tips and tricks below).
- Tossing in a nugget of butter towards the end will reduce the frothing that can occur.
When jelly has reached setting point pour into warm sterilised jars using a funnel and ladle. (How do I sterilise jars? See tips and tricks below). - Cover immediately with plastic lined screw top lids or waxed disks and cellophane tops secured with a rubber band.
- Label when cold and store in a cool, dark place. Away from damp.
Tips and tricks:
- What is a jelly bag?
A jelly bag is traditionally a piece of muslin but it can be cheesecloth, an old thin tea cloth or even a pillowcase. The piece needs to be about 18 inches square. When your fruit is cooked and ready to be put in the jelly bag, lay your cloth over a large bowl. Pour the fruit into the centre of the cloth and tie the four corners together so that they can be slung on a stick to drip over the bowl. Traditionally a stool is turned upside down, the stick is rested on the wood between the legs and the jelly bag hangs over the bowl. We experimented and now line a sieve with muslin, place it over a bucket and cover the lot with clean tea cloths (against the flies). - How do I sterilise muslin/the jelly bag?
Iron the clean jelly bag with a hot iron. This method will also sterilise tea cloths. - Jam “set” or “setting point”?
Getting the right set can be tricky. I have tried using a jam thermometer but find it easier to use the following method.
Before you start to make the jam, put a couple of plates in the fridge so that the warm jam can be drizzled onto a cold plate (when we make jam we often forget to return the plate to the fridge between tests, using two plates means that you have a spare cold plate). Return the plate to the fridge to cool for approx two minutes. It has set when you run your finger through it and leave a crinkly track mark. If after two minutes the cooled jam is too liquid, continue to boil the jam, testing it every few minutes until you have the right set. The jam is far more delicious if it is slightly runny. - How do I sterilise the jars?
We collect jars all year round for our jelly, chutney and jam making sessions. I try to soak off labels and store the clean jars and metal plastic coated screw-top lids in an accessible place. The sterilising method that we use is simple. Just before making the jam, I quickly wash and rinse the jars and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 160c/140c for fan assisted. When the oven has reached the right temperature I turn off the heat. The jars will stay warm for quite a while. I only use plastic lined lids for preserves as the all-metal lids can go rusty. I boil these for five minutes in water to sterilise them. If I use Le Parfait jars, I do the same with the rubber rings.
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I’ve had a disaster with apple jelly. My first lot was syrup, my second lot was toffee. (The first time I cooked it at a gently rolling boil for 10 minutes; the second time I boiled the xxxx off it for 15 minutes. What is the perfect type of boil, and time of boiling?
Hi Derek
You need a rolling boil for jelly – lots of tiny bubbles rising above the juice and sugar.
The boiling reduces the water content – so if you have very thick juice the set will be quick and if you have fruit juice made with a lot of water the set will take longer to come. I have had jelly reach setting point in 3 minutes and also have waited 45 minutes for a set. Since I bought a steam juice extractor https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/fruit-steamers-are-a-brilliant-addition-to-any-busy-kitchen-3529 things have been more consistent – jelly reaches setting point in 10 – 15 minutes.
Hello David
Thanks so mujch for dropping by and leaving all these handy tips. Our local supply of bullaces has run dry 🙁
Love the idea of the chocs!
Pricking sloes is just another rural myth. The juices are drawn out by osmosis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmosis. The skin is a semi permeable membrane and the juice moves across it into the alcohol/sugar solution to equalise the concentration on either side of the membrane. Besides if you pull the stalk out there is a hole in the end anyway.
If you don’t beleive the theory I did a test a couple of years ago, one bottle of pricked sloes, one unpricked, and there wasn’t any difference.
I make sloe chocolates with my used sloes, melt some chocolate, add stoned chopped sloes, roll into balls and chill in the fridge. Melt some more chocolate, dip the balls in and return to the fridge to harden. The second stage is necessary as the sloe chocolate mix won’t “set” due to the liquid content of the sloes. This gives you a melt in the mouth not the hand coating with a soft center.
I use an olive stonner to stone the sloes (bought on e-bay), but have realised that I am actually picking bullaces not sloes, they are a bit bigger and ripen earlier and are just the right size for the olive stoner. We had a weekend in the Cotswolds last autumn and picked enough to fill two demijohns, hence I am looking for more ways of using used sloes/bullaces!
Thanks Steve, I have learnt so much from all the advice on this site thanks to knowledgable people like your good self!
Just need to wait until next autumn and I will bear in mind the tip about the sloe leaves before picking them. I really appreciate all your sound advice, hopefully I will be back in a few months saying my sloe jelly is a roaring success!
Hi Amanda
I too live close to the East Coast – in Essex, actually, near Colchester. The sloes I picked weren’t picked until mid and late November.
There is a saying that Sloes should not be picked until the first frosts have hit them – and I deduce that you are alluding to that in your remarks about freezing them. This country saying is actually a myth in the literal sense; the best time for picking sloes is less to do with the freezing of the fruit and more to do with the fact that sloes don’t ripen properly until quite late in the year. Now that our climate has gotten so mild in Autumn (although you wouldn’t think it had, based on recent events) I reckon that a better guide is not to pick them until all the leaves have gone from the bushes. This has the added benefit of making them much easier to pick as they can be seen more easily.
I can only conclude that the sloes you picked weren’t ripe – that’s why they didn’t soften. In addition, it’s not the freezing of them that causes them to let go their juice in sloe gin – it’s the fact that they have to be labouriously pricked individually; there is no short cut to that.
If you leave your sloe harvesting until much later next year, you’ll find that they will be bigger and juicier and will make even better sloe gin – and you’ll have more success with your jelly! God luck,
Hi Steve and Fiona. Many thanks for all your advice.
The sloes were from a very early batch (the first I have made so a steep learning curve). I live in the UK on the East Coast and I picked them at the end of August. This batch I did prick but following batches I just open froze first (far less work!).
I think I probably had them on too high a heat…I kept turning it up to try and get them to soften enough.
I also think, in hindsight and after reading the sloe gin comments on this site, I picked the sloes too early as well. Obviously weren’t as fleshy as they should have been.
On the plus side my sloe gin from them tastes delicious so not all was wasted.
Thanks again for all your advice. I will bide my time until next autumn and try the recipe with freshly gathered sloes.
Hi Steve
You have set the clarion call for more sloe recipes. I have some in the freezer so I’ll try and come up with a new recipe in the next 2 weeks or so.
Meanwhile I much prefer sloe vodka – a cleaner, clearer drink in all departments. Doesn’t last long in the cottage!
Hi – no problem.
I love this recipe. As I have said, I have done 3 lots this year due to exclusive access to a fine sloe crop. I have given most of it away, but still kept a healthy number of jars for myself.
I wish there was something else I could do with the sloes other than the sloe gin or this jelly, although will continue to do both in the future. Are you aware of any other recipes I could try? I have searched the internet for alternatives but have been unable to find any.
Hi Amanda
You can used gin soaked sloes in sherry/cider/chocolate but not for this particular jelly. Don’t try again as it won’t work.
You should have got more than half a jar too! Did you simmer or boil the fruit?
Hi Steve
Thanks for all your help!
Hi Amanda
The colour for the jelly comes from the sloe skins, not the flesh, and the alcohol would have bleached out most of the colour into the gin to give it it’s owm rich dark colour. In addition, if you pricked them all individually, most of the fruit juice should have leached out into the gin as well.
I follow the recipe, apart from the alterations I have already mentioned (mashing, wringing, glug of port etc) although I probably use a bit more water than the recipe states, but not enough to completely cover the ingredients.
Also – whereabouts in the country are you (assuming it’s the UK) and when did you pick your sloes? That’s quite important too.