Discover a crab apple jelly recipe with clover to eat for breakfast, with cheese, or to mix into a marinade for pork and chicken.
Summer is a season of abundance. Gardens are at their zenith, with bushels of produce being harvested every week, and the wild places that surround us are bursting forth with flavorful fruits, colorful flowers, and fragrant herbs. Every day is an adventure of sights, sounds, and tastes. Let’s celebrate every moment, soaking in the cornucopia of nature, but let’s also take time to preserve the bounty — preparing and stashing away while we have plenty, allowing us to enjoy the fruits of our labor long after the season has passed us by.
We can partner these seasonal fruits with wild herbs and flowers, balancing their flavors and creating something new and exciting — far beyond anything our taste buds have experienced before. Let’s make savory compotes, floral jams, and vibrant jellies full of sunshine and good cheer.
Directions
- Add crab apples to a medium pot and use just enough water to fully cover the fruits. Add sachet of clover flowers. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium, and let everything simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Stir occasionally and gently crush fruits with a potato masher. Remove from heat and, using cheesecloth and a funnel, strain out fruit while reserving liquid. Let sit for an hour or so to fully drain. Resist squeezing the apples; that will result in a cloudy jelly.
- Return liquid to pot, and add sugar and lemon juice. Use 3/4 cup sugar for every cup of liquid. Bring to a boil while stirring frequently and skimming off the foam. Use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature and allow liquid to continue boiling until it reaches 220 F.
- Carefully pour the hot liquid into sterilized jars, cap, and then process in a water bather canner for 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can store the jelly in the freezer, where it will keep well for several months.
As the seasons progress into late summer and eventually autumn, the flavors of our culinary creations change too. Scrumptious blackberries and juicy blueberries might be a thing of the past, but now we can turn our attention to the trees. Crisp and delicious apples are ripening and beckon to be harvested. We can pick a crunchy ‘Honeycrisp’ for snacking or a vibrant-green ‘Granny Smith’ with perfectly tart flesh for baking apple pies. But let’s not forget about the humble crab apple (Malus spp.) with its diminutive fruits hanging abundantly from the branches. These tiny pomes might not work for fruit salad, but they’re ideal for creating remarkable jellies. We can balance the crab apple’s tart flavor with the sweet nectar of red clover flowers (Trifolium pratense). Even dried, these fragrant blossoms carry a particular sweetness that’s well-suited to this pairing.
Red clover blooms throughout summer and into early autumn, so fresh flowers are certainly a possibility for this recipe. As always, double the quantity of fresh herbs to ensure a flavorful extraction. The herbs can be held in a sachet during the first boil, then removed before adding the sugar. Since crab apples are naturally high in pectin, you don’t need to add additional pectin to this recipe.
This tasty jelly is perfect served with breakfast, alongside piquant and sharp cheeses, or incorporated into a marinade for pork and chicken.
Find more food flavored with flowers:
Bevin Cohen is an herbalist, author, owner of Small House Farm, and host of the popular “Seeds & Weeds” podcast. He’s a food and garden writer whose work has appeared in many national publications, and he’s the author of more than 10 books, including The Artisan Herbalist and Herbs in Every Season.
Originally published in the August/September 2026 issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS and regularly vetted for accuracy.
