#pickledapples

my first experience with preserving something went well until the end product came together. I tried to do preserved apples with cinnamon and clove; at the time it felt festive and fitting to the season and the recipe I found in one of my mums old cookbooks seemed rather easy.The recipe I used called for cider vinegar, sugar, whole clove, cinnamon sticks and apples.

Spiced pickled apples

3 Medium apples

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup sugar

5 whole cloves

2-3 cinnamon sticks

 I used a 750ml glass mason jar and started off by sanitizing the jar and lid in boiling water for 10 minutes, then removing it onto paper towel to dry. next I added my vinegar, sugar, water, clove, and cinnamon sticks to a small sauce pot and brought it to a simmer. While the pickling mixture was coming up to a simmer I sliced my apples and in the remaining time played some Pokemon.

i let the pickling mixture simmer for a minute or two to ensure that all the sugar had been devolved, and then I let it stand off the heat for about five minutes just so it’s not completely boiling when i pour it into the jar. I placed the apples in the jar along with the cinnamon sticks and place a small pot of water on the stove to boil. I pour the pickling liquid over the apples until it just hits under the brim. I put the lid on the jar half way and wait until the water is boiling. 

 Once the water was boiling I placed the jar upside-down so that the lid was on the bottom of the pot and let it sit for about 5 minutes to get all the air out. When I first took the jar out and turned it right side up and tightened the lid I thought I did a pretty good job. I came back about an hour later to find all my apple slices floating towards the top of the jar and all of them looked like I had left them out of the fridge all day. This continued for the next few days after and the apples just kept looking worse and worse. I’m pretty sure I ended up leaving some air in the jar when I finally sealed it and it began to decompose.