Just my 2 cents, but . . .

You could. However, in the grating process you will lose juice and color retention will be more difficult. Also, it's going to be more difficult to suspend the grated apples in the jell. The likelihood is you'd end up with a thick layer of apple shreds at the top and clear jell below.

Having said that, there's no real reason beyond aesthetics not to, especially if there's some dietary constraint that makes this necessary (i.e. perhaps dental issues for someone).

Carol

It's not so much dietary as neuropathy which makes it a little harder to hold a knife. I have to stop every couple of apples and rest my hand. However, the thought of apple shreds at the top/clear jell below sounds really unappealing (no pun intended!) so I will just do it the long way. Thanks for the input!

Edie

I do understand about the neuropathy, which my husband has.

Another option is to go ahead and shred the apples. I would get them into some acid or something like Fruit Fresh ASAP. If they float, so be it. You can decant the jam into a pretty dish and stir together for company or just stir in the jar for yourself.

You should do whatever works best for you.

Carol

I grated the apples with my food processor once. I don't recall having the shreds float any worse than the chopped apples. My old food processor makes really big or really small shreds not the in between size I get if I hand grate. I used the larger size. I decided I like chopped better but it wasn't a huge difference. I haven't tried chopping them with the regular blade in the food processor. The old one chopped very unevenly. I haven't had my new kitchenaid one very long but it does seem to chop more evenly. I might try it.

OK, I'll try one batch using shredded and I will report back to let you know what happens. If worse comes to worst I'll just keep this batch for myself (oh, the sacrifices we have to make sometimes LOL!!) and get more apples and make a 2nd batch. I like to make jams and jellies for Christmas presents.