The old red-ringed holiday relish: tart apple rings simmered in a clove and cinnamon-candy syrup and canned in a boiling-water bath. A tested USDA process.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is part of the collection’s pickled batch and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 12 pounds firm tart apples (no more than 2½ inches across)
- 12 cups sugar
- 6 cups water
- 1¼ cups white vinegar (5%)
- 3 tablespoons whole cloves
- ¾ cup red hot cinnamon candies, or 8 cinnamon sticks
- 1 teaspoon red food coloring (optional)
- Ascorbic acid solution, for holding the cut apples
Directions
Key ingredients
- Wash the apples. To prevent browning, peel and slice one apple at a time: cut it crosswise into ½-inch slices, remove the core with a melon baller, and drop the rings at once into ascorbic acid solution.
- For the syrup, combine the sugar, water, vinegar, cloves, cinnamon candies or sticks and food coloring in a 6-quart saucepan. Stir, bring to a boil and simmer 3 minutes.
- Drain the apples, add them to the hot syrup and cook 5 minutes.
- Fill hot jars (wide-mouth are easiest) with apple rings and hot syrup, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust the lids.
- Process half-pints or pints in a boiling-water canner, hot pack: 10 minutes at 0–1,000 feet, 15 minutes at 1,001–6,000 feet, 20 minutes above 6,000 feet.
Notes
Source Adapted from the National Center for Home Food Preservation, “Spiced Apple Rings,” after the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning (rev. 2015).
The source’s own warning NCHFP prints: “This is an older USDA offering that is still available and valid. However, it is an extremely high sugar concentration that most people today do not like. We are working on an updated version for next year, so you might want to wait and not try this version.” The process is tested and safe; the objection is the sugar. Do not reduce the sugar or vinegar in a tested canning recipe.
The color The red hot candies give the classic pink-red ring; the food coloring is optional.
Storage Shelf-stable once processed and sealed.
The photo The photograph shows jars of spiced apple rings from Clemson Extension’s version of the same USDA-tested recipe.