What to Do with Crab Apples: 20 Creative Recipes and Uses

I’ve been thinking about what I can do with the many crabapple trees that grow on the land where I work, which used to be a dairy farm and is now an apple orchard and school. Crabapples grow all over the United States, usually in backyards and neighborhoods. But like me, not many people know all the ways they can be used.

Crabapple trees are pretty and bloom with flowers all spring long. In late summer and fall, small apples grow on the trees. But crabapples are more than ornamental trees – they are edible as well!.

A crabapple is usually smaller than 2 inches, while a “standard” apple is bigger. Both are in the Rosaceae family, which is the rose family, and the same genus (Malus). Many crabapples are quite tart, but there are some sweet crabapple cultivars.

Growing crabapples in your garden or orchard is an excellent idea because they’re helpful with pollination. Honey bees and other pollinating insects love this tree. Planting one near your garden will help make sure that your vegetable and fruit trees get the pollination they need to bear fruit.

If you have access to crabapple trees, here are some of the best uses for crabapples.

Some people assume that crabapples aren’t edible because they are primarily grown as ornamental, decorative trees. However, you can eat and use them just like standard apples. Just remember that crabapples can be extremely tart, so adjust the other ingredients in your recipe accordingly!.

17 Uses for Crabapples

Don’t throw away all the crabapples in your yard or neighborhood. There are lots of ways to use them. Here are some creative suggestions to get you started!.

• Homemade Crabapple Pectin

Most jelly or jam recipes contain store-bought pectin to create the thickening needed. The naturally occurring substance pectin can be found in many fruits and berries. When mixed with sugar, it gives jams and jellies their thick, gel-like texture.

An alternative to commercial pectin is to make homemade crabapple pectin. Harvest underripe crabapples for this purpose. The more ripe a fruit is, the less pectin it contains.

Try making a batch of crabapple pectin when jelly season comes around and using that instead of the boxes from the store. It’s one easy way to cut the costs of your jelly and keep it natural.

Crabapples are naturally full of pectin. So, you don’t need any extra pectin to make crabapple jelly—just sugar to balance out the tartness of the crabapple.

Some people liken the taste of crabapple jelly to apple peel jelly, but with a more potent flavor.

This recipe for homemade crabapple jelly from Grow a Good Life is a great one to follow. They suggest using 25% underripe crabapples and 75% ripe crabapples to ensure there is enough natural pectin for the jelly to set.

Not a fan of jelly? Try making jam instead! This delicious sounding recipe for crabapple jam adds fresh mint leaves and vanilla, with a consistency similar to apple butter.

Skip the applesauce and make crabapple sauce instead. All you need is two ingredients: crabapples and your favorite sweetener.

If you don’t want to peel the apples, I like to use a food mill to make applesauce. Just cut out any bad spots and put the crabapples in a slow cooker. You can also cook them on the stove or wood stove in a pot with a little water added to keep them from burning.

In a food mill, grind the crabapples until they are soft. This will get rid of the skins and seeds. After that, add sugar, honey, or another sweetener to taste to the sauce and put it back in the slow cooker. Simmer the mixture for a few hours, or until it reaches the consistency you want.

After you make crabapple sauce, try thickening it down into crabapple butter! Add some cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves for a true taste of Autumn, and enjoy on a thick slice of homemade bread. Crabapple butter can also be canned to enjoy later.

Here are some simple instructions to follow if you want to use a slow cooker for crabapple butter.

Do your kids love fruit leather? It makes a quick, healthy, on-the go snack that you can easily make at home with a food dehydrator. If you have an abundance of crabapples, try making fruit leather.

The process of making crabapple fruit leather is quite simple once you’ve mastered crabapple sauce. Chris at Joybilee farm has a great recipe for crabapple fruit leather.

The basic process is to start with crabapple sauce that has been sweetened to taste. You simply spread the sauce on trays and put them into your dehydrator. You can make fruit leather in the oven if you don’t have a dehydrator. Just set the oven to the lowest setting and leave it there for few hours.

• Caramel Crab Apples

In Central Vermont, an annual fall outing is to the Tunbridge Fair. This is a typical harvest fair, with animal shows, carnival rides, and all the usual fair food, like caramel apples.

Caramel apples are tasty, especially when covered in nuts or other treats. Making them at home makes them extra special. A sweet type of crab apple can be used to make a smaller caramel apple that kids will love. It’s great for a fall get-together or Halloween party.

This incredible homemade caramel crab apple recipe uses maple syrup and maple sugar to sweeten!

Most people know how to pickle vegetables like cucumbers and beans, but you can also pickle fruit! A spicy pickled crabapple would be great with roasted chicken or on an appetizer tray.

When pickling anything, you want to pick the best quality fruit possible. Your pickled dish will only taste as good as the crabapples you use, so stay away from ones that have a lot of damage or blemishes.

The recipe for spicy pickled crabapples starts by making a brine with apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, and spices. This is a canning-safe recipe that needs to be processed in a boiling water canner.

Chutney complements different dishes, especially poultry or pork dishes. You may change the spices in the recipe, or you might add other herbs like oregano or rosemary.

The best way to describe crabapple chutney is a chunky, savory, spiced version of applesauce. You add onions, garlic, cranberries, and so many other yummy ingredients. Everything is placed into a slow cooker and cooked on low for six hours, then mashed.

This crabapple syrup elevates a simple fruit into a gourmet topping for breakfast foods, or a mix-in for winter cocktails. It only requires crabapples, sugar, and water.

Fall is not fall without homemade apple cider. You can use sweet crabapples instead of regular apples, or you can mix regular apples and crabapples for a balanced taste.

This recipe for crabapple cider uses only five ingredients and is a great use for a prolific crabapple tree!

If you don’t have a juicer or a cider press, this overnight crabapple juice recipe could be a fun way to make delicious juice. Remember that crabapples have varying levels of sweet/tart, so adjust the recipe as needed.

Liqueurs are great ways to preserve and enjoy seasonal harvests. One of my favorite homemade liqueurs, nocino, is made from black walnuts.

Crabapple liqueur is an easy recipe for beginners, and unlike making wine or hard cider, requires little equipment. However, you will want to plan ahead. Take a peek at this homemade crabapple liqueur recipe and double the batch for holiday gifts!

• Crabapple Hard Cider

We use apple drops from our neighborhood and a nearby orchard to make a lot of hard apple cider every year.

For fermentation to happen, your cider needs to be sweet enough, but adding crababbles to your apple blend will make it taste more complex. Some cider aficionados recommend 10-20% crabapples.

Follow my simple hard apple cider recipe to make crabapple hard cider. For more information on the best apples for hard cider, click here.

Apple crisp is one of my favorite fall desserts, and it’s so quick and easy to make when you have extra apples. Crabapples work well too, either on their own, or blended with standard apples.

If you’re looking for an easy dessert on a cold evening, try this crabapple crisp recipe. If you’re using a mix of apples, taste to sweeten.

• Crabapple Strawberry Tart

Here’s another dessert idea using crabapples: Crabapple strawberry tart.

When the crabapples are ready, take some strawberries out of the freezer. The sweet strawberries will go well with the sour crabapples. Add in the flaky pastry crust, and you have the recipe for a divine dessert.

Apple pie is one of the best ways to use crabapples! Fun fact: some species of crabapples are native to North America, which makes crabapple pie a truly American dessert!

Use your favorite pie recipe and either use a different fruit (remember to check the sweetness) or add crabapples.

FORAGING CRAB APPLES + What To Do With Them | Vegan Cooking | Plant Based Jam | HCLF