Crab Apple Jelly

Watching Countryfile last week with their feature on preserves and jams, I realised the 3 trees laden with fruit by the Village Hall near me were crab apples. So, digging a bag out of the boot on the way back from lunch at the Merrie Harriers, we picked about 0.005% of the fruit. They are such perfect red little apples, I've never properly looked at them. Anyway, the girls helped me de-stalk them and I decided to try some jelly according to this Waitrose recipe having had little success with past jam and jelly making attempts.

They looked very beautiful in the pan:

and once they'd softened, I left the pulp to drain overnight through a tea towel and colander. Having measured the liquid and done the maths for 10 parts juice to 7 parts sugar :-/ I left it at a rolling boil for 25 minutes. And guess what? It set!! Yes! I forgot to skim it so it has lumpy bits of foam in it but one jar looks pretty good:

Sooooo pretty. We have collected some more as I want to have a go at crab apple wine....

The girls were at Stagecoach in the morning and did some Fimo when they got back so that kept them quiet of a few minutes:

Charles came over and brought me some lard - to make bird cake (he did also bring chocolate and about 15 bottles of real ale to replensish stocks) and we made enough to last us a month or two at least:

The bunnies came in to the lounge this morning for a bit as it was rather wet and cold for them to go in their run. Scruff was extremely good and managed to supress all his doggy instincts, especially when Scarlet hopped up and tried to kiss him.

I think the dog struggles more with resisting the ducks due to his Springer heritage. John (the grey call) has taken to trying to grab my feet as I walk through the garden which makes it a bit difficult not to trip over him, but it does mean I get to stroke him sometimes if I am sitting down when he attacks me.

I didn't do so well with my geology this morning; Activity 1.3.1 rather exercised me - the answer to Question 1 was about 4 paragraphs long, significantly more comprehensive than mine which was 'No'. But the video footage was good as it was all about the Grand Canyon and Sierra Nevada mountains.

My knitting has reached a hiatus as I ran out of cream wool mid-bauble and I've got to the complicated bits with all the hats. Still, it's Countryfile and Downton Adverts this evening so I should be able catch up a bit.