Making your own apple pectin

We have planted a few apple trees which will hopefully start fruiting in the next couple of years. In the UK we had a couple of apple trees and used some of our crop to make our your own pectin which we used when making fruit jams or jellies.

To make your own you need about 1.5kg of slightly under-ripe green apples, any variety will do - last season we used some local native Cypriot apples, and wash them thoroughly. Slice the apples with the core and pips, place them in a litre of water with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and boil until the mixture reduces by half.  Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth, re-boil for about 20 minutes and pour into a sterilised jar.


Once cooled store in a cool and dark place and your pectin will keep for about three months or freeze for later use. The amount of home made pectin to use when jam or jelly making will depend on the fruit or fruits used, if you mixture is not setting add more.