Apples from Orange

“Have a look at these beautiful apples! Try an apple! Why don't you have an apple?”, prodded my ever persistent Dad. Since my parents moved to Orange NSW, my Dad has raved about the fruit here. Actually, he has raved about fruit my whole life. He is like an Australian version of Kramer from Seinfeld when it comes to his love of good fruit, he has even been known to return fruit if it wasn't up to par. Here is an example of what I am talking about, you only have to watch up to 0.35 to get the idea.
I must admit, they did look great. I tried a Jonagold. I had never heard of a Jonagold before and was eager to see what other varieties Orange had to offer.

The apples grow along the side of extinct volcano, Mt Canobolas, which has rich basalt soil, along with the cool climate and frequent rainfall makes for ideal apple growing conditions. 

We went (my dear old Dad and I) out to Hillside Orchard where he buys all his seasonal fruit. Each time I come to Orange, we always manage a visit here and I more often than not end up taking some wonderful fruit back to Sydney. 

On this particular day, the car park was filled with tourists all clutching plastic bags. I hadn't seen anything like it before at the orchard. Ah! Such is the power of the apples from Orange. 

So, after hanging in the car while the three bus loads departed, we made our way into the orchard shop.  

It was pure autumn in there. There was a such a fantastic variety of apples there, all crisp, shiny and sweet smelling. I asked the chap running the orchard which ones I should get. He suggested I try Pink Lady, Yellow Delicious, Jonagold and Fuji.

So off I went, clutching my very own bag of apples from Orange, with recipes dancing around in my head.


Back in Sydney, I still hadn't found the perfect recipe to truly highlight the amazing freshness and flavour that these apples had. A pie or a crumble (although extremely tasty) just wouldn't cut it this time. These were special apples and the flavour of them were unlike the ones found in the supermarket. I needed to concentrate their flavour and make something unusual and with minimal ingredients. 
Apple Jelly sprang to mind, I was hoping to find a recipe that didn't involve me adding gelatin and instead hopefully rely on the natural pectin that is found in apples. Please also note that my jelly making skills at this point in time consist of opening a packet of Aeroplane Jelly and adding hot water.   


After a quick Google, a recipe over at Lottie + Doof caught my eye. One that was adapted from an Alice Waters recipe from The Art of Simple Food. My mind quickly changed (as it is known to do). I won't make a single wobbly jelly on a plate, I will make petite jellies (or jubes), blush pink and lightly crusted with sugar. A very elegant ending for these beautiful apples from Orange.

Apple Jellies
Adapted from Lottie + Doof from an original recipe by Alice Waters from The Art of Simple Food.


1.4kg (approx 8) Apples, Roughly chopped, cored, skins intact

1 cup of water
1 1/2 cups sugar
Juice of 1 Lemon

1. First grease an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with a neutral vegetable oil, then line with baking paper also lightly greased with the oil.
2. Then put the apples into a large, heavy based pot or deep pan with the water to cook down and soften over a medium heat. This took me about 20 mins to half an hour.
3. Next it is time to pulp the apples and remove the skins. Lottie + Doof used a moulie for this task, I didn't have one so I used a sieve. This, as warned by Lottie and Doof, was indeed "hell" and I strongly advise that if you try this recipe out, you purchase yourself a moulie, you have been warned.
4. After this, add the pulp back into the pot, add the lemon juice, sugar and stir to combine.
5. Now it is time to put on some music, pour yourself a glass of wine and settle in because next comes a lot of stirring and watching...and stirring and watching, on a low heat for about an hour. If you stop stirring and watching, it may catch and burn and all that sieving would have been for nothing.
6. After about an hour your pulp should now look like a rosy, gelatinous paste in the bottom of the pot, you can also check if it is ready by putting a smear of the paste on a saucer in the freezer for a short while (it should look and feel as if it has gelled). The kitchen will smell amazing.
7. Now, evenly spread the gel onto the prepared tray and pop it in the fridge overnight.
8. When it has completely cooled, turn the gel onto a baking paper lined tray, then remove the top layer of baking paper.
9. Leave the gel to dry out in a cool dry place for at least 8 hours or overnight, uncovered.
10. I found that my paste was still a little moist so if this happens, dry the paste in an extremely low oven for about an hour. 
11. Once the gel is dry and cooled completely, cut into squares and roll in sugar before serving.

These make fantastic gifts (if you can bear to part with them) and are great with or without the sugar. You can keep this paste in an airtight container in the fridge or in a cool, dry place for up to a year.