Homemade preserves, jams, and jellies are the best, right? The kids, Derek, and I harvested all the apples from our three apple trees (and the ripe figs) a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been busy in the kitchen preserving the bounty. This homemade, reduced-sugar apple jelly is delicious, healthy, and a welcome change on sandwiches and biscuits.

Buckets and bags of apples on a kitchen table sitting next to a container of figs.

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Fall is almost here! I love the changing weather and the pretty colors that the leaves turn. I really love when the pretty leaves fall to the ground and create a beautiful carpet along our lawn and driveway. It’s just so charming and cozy to me!

This time of year also means that my family’s favorite fruit is ready to harvest…apples!!

The kids love having apple slices in their lunchboxes and I save all the fruit that doesn’t have bad spots in our refrigerators for fresh eating. However, plenty of the apples also have some bad spots, and those are perfect for turning into apple jelly, apple butter, and applesauce.

A lot of jam and jelly recipes call for more sugar than I’d prefer, so I made the switch to using Pomona’s Pectin last year because it doesn’t require as much sugar in order to jell properly. I love their cookbook, too. (Note: I haven’t tried Ball’s low- or no-sugar pectin. I would imagine it works well, too.)

Making Reduced-Sugar Apple Jelly

This recipe makes a little more than 4 half-pint jars of apple jelly. Any extra jelly can be stored in a small jar in your refrigerator for immediate use. Or you can make a second batch of apple jelly while the first batch is processing and add jelly to fill up your half-pint.

Making and processing small batches of apple jelly is how I made all of our jars. I don’t know if doubling the recipe will result in the same quality of apple jelly. That’s a lesson I learned years ago when I tried making peach preserves. The small batch turned out perfectly lovely and was a light yellow color. When I doubled the recipe, it had to cook so long that the resulting preserves were brown. It still tasted great, but just wasn’t as beautiful. Since this recipe uses apple juice, I’m guessing it could double easily but I didn’t want to risk it. I’m pleased with the resulting pale pink apple jelly.

Ingredients

For this recipe, you’ll need 1 cup of sugar, 4 cups of apple juice, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, and a box of Pomona’s Pectin (which includes pectin and calcium powder).

Making Apple Juice

If you want to make your own apple juice as I have done, you’ll need about 4 pounds of apples to create roughly 4 cups of apple juice. Core and cut your apples, and cover them with 4 cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes until the apples are soft, stirring occasionally. Then take the saucepan off the heat and mash the apples.

Add your mashed apples to a dampened jelly bag or a large, dampened flour sack towel. Hang it up and allow it to drip into a bowl for at least 2 hours or until it stops dripping. (My kitchen cabinet knobs come in handy for this job because I use kitchen string to hang my filled flour sack towels to the knobs and the juice drips into bowls.)

Since I had a lot of apples to use up, I made several of these batches and every knob on my upper cabinets had a bag of apple pulp hanging and dripping into bowls beneath them. I split up the work and made apple juice one day and the apple jelly the next day. The juice stores well in the refrigerator.

Save Your Scraps!

I like to core the apples first which I then use to make apple-scrap vinegar. You can also save the leftover juice pulp to make applesauce and apple butter after getting out the juice. I encourage you to do the same! There’s no waste this way and you get multiple products!!

Instructions for Making Reduced-Sugar Apple Jelly

Pint and half-pint mason jars of apple jelly on the kitchen counter next to three red and green apples.

If you’re new to making jelly, this is a classic recipe to start with.

1. Prepare your canner, jars, lids, and rings.

First, get out your water bath canner, jars, lids, and rings. The Preserving with Pomona’s Pectin cookbook says to sterilize your jars first, so I’ll leave that in this recipe. To sterilize your empty jars, submerge them in your canner and boil them for 10 minutes. I usually turn the heat off the canner at that point and leave my jars in the canner until I’m ready to fill them. It is worth noting that the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving does not require sterilizing jars for jams, jellies, and preserves since all recipes are boiled in the water bath canner for at least 10 minutes and sterilization is achieved that way.

2. Make your reduced-sugar apple jelly.

First, prepare your Pomona’s calcium water. In a small half-pint or similar glass jar, mix 1/2 teaspoon of calcium powder with 1/2 cup of water. Store your extra calcium water in the refrigerator for several months and use it up as needed to make jams and jellies.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup of sugar with 4 teaspoons of Pomona’s pectin powder and set aside. I like to use organic cane sugar but white sugar also works well.

White bowl with one cup of sugar and four teaspoons of Pomona's pectin powder.

Next, fill a medium saucepan with 4 cups of apple juice, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, and 4 teaspoons of calcium water. Mix well and bring to a boil over high heat. Then slowly whisk in the sugar and pectin mixture, stirring constantly and vigorously for 2 minutes to dissolve the sugar and pectin. Once the jelly returns to a full boil, take it off the heat and stir to make sure the pectin and sugar have dissolved.

A stainless steel saucepan with four cups of apple juice, one-fourth cup of lemon juice, four teaspoons of calcium water, and sugar and pectin mixed in with a red whisk.

3. Can your apple jelly.

Remove your jars from your canner and put them onto a kitchen towel.

A stainless steel saucepan on the stove with apple jelly inside and glass half-pint mason jars sitting on a white kitchen towel on the counter with a red jar lifter and stainless steel funnel.

Ladle the hot jelly into your hot jars and leave 1/4 inch of headspace.

Then remove any air bubbles and wipe the rims with a damp cloth to remove any jelly (I usually use the hot water from the canner to wipe the rims).

Place your lids on your jars and then screw your bands on until they are fingertip tight. This means you screw your bands on until it just meets resistance and then tighten a little bit more. Don’t screw the bands on so tight that the trapped air can’t escape or your jars will explode!

4. Process your jars.

Lower your hot jars into your hot canner. (Use caution and a jar lifter.) The water should cover your jars by at least 2 inches.

Add the lid to your canner and bring the water to a rolling boil. Then set your timer for 10 minutes if your elevation is less than 1,000 feet above sea level. (Since water boils at lower temperatures the higher your elevation, add an extra 1 minute of processing time for every 1,000 feet in elevation you are above sea level.)

After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and remove the lid. Let the jars rest for 5 minutes in the canner. Then take your jars out carefully with your jar lifter and set them on a kitchen towel to cool for 12 to 24 hours.

After the jars have cooled, take the bands off and check to be sure that the lids are sealed properly. Then label and store your apple jelly with the bands off. They can safely be stored for 18 months before the nutrition and possibly color starts to change, but as long as the lids are still sealed it’ll still be safe to eat.

Variations to Recipe

If you want to try something new, you can substitute honey for the sugar in this recipe. The sugar isn’t needed for safety or to jell this apple jelly, so don’t be afraid. You can try using 1/2 cup of honey first (since honey has a strong flavor) while it’s boiling in the saucepan. If you don’t think it’s sweet enough after a taste-test, add the other 1/2 cup of honey.

If you want to try using honey, you’ll revise the recipe steps slightly. Put your honey into a measuring cup, add the Pomona’s pectin powder to the honey, and stir well. You’ll add the sweetener/pectin mixture to your boiling fruit juice and follow the rest of the steps as normal.

Additionally, try making cranapple jelly by adding 12 ounces of cranberries to 2 and 1/4 pounds of apples when you boil to get the juice. You may need to add a little more sugar (up to 1/2 cup more) in the end but it’s a beautiful flavor and color. The rest of the recipe remains the same as the reduced-sugar apple jelly.

Recipe for Making and Canning Reduced-Sugar Apple Jelly

Two mason jars of apple jelly next to three red apples.

Making and Canning Reduced-Sugar Apple Jelly

Rivers Family Farm

This homemade, reduced-sugar apple jelly is delicious, healthy, and a welcome change on sandwiches and biscuits.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 2 15

Processing Time 10

Course Breakfast

Cuisine Chinese

Servings 4 half-pints