Here's my problem. Today I used 1 3/4 pounds of crabapples and 1 3/4 cups of water (I'll tell you why I used such a small amount later). From all this, I only got 3/4 cups of juice and 2 cups of thick applesauce. The juice itself seemed to be kind of thick, almost like a light syrup. And when I say the applesauce is thick, I mean thick. A spoon stands up in it. I followed the directions exactly:
-I cut the stems and blossom ends off of the crabapples, cut the crabs into pieces, added the water, and simmered them, covered, for 20 minutes. By this point the apples were soft.
-After simmering, I strained the apples and juice through a sieve, lightly pressing the juice out.
-I then strained just the juice through a jelly bag. Which was taking forever, maybe one drip every 2 or 3 minutes, so I squeezed the jelly bag to get as much juice as I could out (I don't mind a cloudy jelly).
-I mashed the leftover crapapple pieces through the sieve to remove the skins and to get the applesauce. I even tried to get more juice out of the sauce by putting it in the jelly bag and squeezing it, no luck.

I had the same problem yesterday when I did this. Except yesterday I used 4 pounds of crabapples and 4 cups water which only gave me 2 1/2 cups of juice.

The only two conclusions I can think of are:
1) I'm doing something wrong.
Or 2) The crabapples were so high in pectin that it thickened the juice and sauce even before adding the sugar and boiling it. (Is this possible?)

Any thoughts?

Rodney

some apples, crab or regular, produce a thicker sauce. I hope you are using real crab apples, not the ornamental crab apples. It makes a real difference. I haven't found true crab apples for years.

Carol

The crabapples I used were pink-fleshed, around an inch in diameter, and they were from a tree maybe 20 feet tall and wide. So it's a big, old tree.

And it makes sense that they might have been a little dry inside. The tree doesn't get any supplemental watering.

I've got both the juice and sauce in the fridge right now. Both taste pretty good at this point. Tart but good. Plus they are a nice rosey color.

Rodney

Jelly bags, if dry, can absorb a fair amount of the juice ... so oftentimes we will thoroughly wet the bag (under a faucet) and wring it dry. That way, you might not waste so much juice.

It does sound, though, that your apples must have not been very juicy. If the color and the flavor is good, though, that's great! I'm certain you'll be able to do something delicious with it ... and sugar!

Let us know how it goes, OK?

As far as dripping, I've found that I'm inpatient also. I allow it to drip overnight whenever possible. Ajsmama mentioned letting it drip in the laundry room, I tried hanging the bag on the shelf over my washer/dryer and it worked great.

Well it appears my choice of crabapples was the problem. It took nearly 6 pounds of crabapples and 6 cups water just to get 3 1/4 cups of juice. (didn't measure the total amount of applesauce) At least now I know how much apples I need to use if I decide to make this again. Or find juicier crabapples.

And the jelly is done. This morning I made the jelly and sealed it. I got 4 half-pints, plus an extra half-cup that I didn't process. It's cooling on a towel on my kitchen counter. It tastes great. I used a turkey baster to suck the juice off the sediment that accumulated overnight. What really surprised me is that when I was boiling the juice and sugar together, it cleared up nicely.

As for the applesauce, I added enough water to loosen it up some and enough sugar to sweeten it. It tastes great as well (I left it somewhat tart). I froze it instead of canning it though. I thought about using apple cider instead of water to loosen it but decided that I wanted a pure crabapple sauce.

Thanks everyone for the help. Very much appreciated.

Rodney