Spiced Apple Rings

If you have been following my blog recently you will know that I am in the midst of an Apples Everywhere collection of recipes.  In this third installment I will be sharing with you Spiced Apple Rings. 

Spiced Apple Rings are a bit more complicated than the previous two recipes but it’s well worth the extra effort.  I spent a decent 30 minutes sitting on my kitchen floor going through 2 large paper bags full of apples just to find the prettiest ones.  With the apple sauce and the pie filling, it didn’t realy matter what the apples looked like.  But for this recipe it’s best to have nice, round, uniform apples so you get the perfect slices. 

Fill a large bowl with cold water and the juice of half a lemon.

Again I needed two bowls so be prepared.

Make a spice bag by placing stick cinnamon, whole cloves, and sliced fresh ginger onto a 7inch double thick cheese cloth.  Tie corners together with clean kitchen twine.  The amount of spices you use depends on how much flavor you want in your apples.

With a total of 8 pounds of apples, peel, core, and slice apples into ½ inch thick rings one at a time.

Immediately place rings into lemon water.  The lemon juice keeps the apples looking fresh rather than browning as they are sliced.  I know some people use Ascorbic Acid Color Keeper but I prefer to keep it as simple and natural as possible and the lemon water works perfectly for me.

In a large pot combine 6 cups brown sugar, 6 cups water, and 1 cup apple cider vinegar.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. 

Reduce heat, add spice bag, and simmer covered for 10 minutes.

Drain apples and add to hot liquid.  At this point I had to do two batches since I could not fit all my apple rings into the pot at once. 

Simmer apples for about 5 minutes or until tender. 

Using a slotted spoon, pack apples into hot, sterile canning jars leaving a ½ inch headspace.

Ladle hot liquid into jars (leaving a ½ inch headspace), apply lids and rings and process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes.

After packing all my apple slices into 4 quart jars and 1 pint, I had a lot of liquid left.  I hate to let anything go to waste so I ladled the extra liquid into 4 pint jars and processed them with the apple slices.  I labeled them Spiced Apple Broth and plan to use them in cooking chicken, turkey, pork, or other meats.  I firmly believe the apple broth will make for a deliciously tender meal and I cannot wait to try it out.