My mom taught me to make apple jelly using the peels/cores. Here's the method:

1. Boil peels and cores with minimal water to extract the juice. (Strain and clarify as much as desired.)

2. Mix together 4 cups of juice and 1 box (1/3 cup) Sure Jell in a large pot.

3. Bring the juice to a full boil and then stir in 5 cups of sugar.

4. Bring it back up to a boil and boil for 1 minute.

5. Skim off any foam, pour into canning jars and process in boiling water bath for 5 minutes if under 1000 feet of altitude or 10 minutes if over 1000 feet.

I find that this makes the most wonderful pink jelly if you use bright red apple peels.

- Steve

Oh, by the way, in case you are new to making applesauce, you don't actually have to go to all the trouble of peeling and coring the apples if you can arrange to borrow a device called a food mill. It saves lots of time because all you have to do is chop up the apples and throw them in a big pot with a little water to soften. Once softened you just run them through the food mill which will remove all the peels and seeds leaving you with nice smooth sauce.

You can freeze them and save them to make your own pectin.

But I had no luck getting the peach skin & pit concoction to thicken up. I even tried leaving the liquid in the crock pot overnight (on low); it just carmelized and burned.

Crockpot doesn't get hot enough. Needs hard, fast boil to thicken.

Dave

I've been making two quarts of pear nectar a day with the cores and peelings from my pears. It's naturally thick and tasty, much of it goes in the freezer for straight-up drinking until we run out of room. I strain some, let it settle few days, and then use the clearish juice to make jelly. I also use the nectar as cooking water for pear butter made with fruits too soft to can.

Our pears and apples don't get sprayed, but if they did I would use cores only and ditch the peels.

Thanks, everyone! I don't have a food mill, but I don't find it troublesome to use the apple/peeler corer and the immersion blender.

Re: the crock pot, I was following directions on the Pick Your Own site.

Kristina

I was following directions on the Pick Your Own site.

Suggest using more reputable sites for canning info such as NCHFP, the Ball Blue Book, freshpreserving.com, etc. That particular site is often noted for some unapproved and misleading instructions.

Dave