To fill a 1 liter Agee jar or 2x 500ml Agee jars
Ingredients:
- 6-10 Pink Lady Apples (quantity depends on how well you are able to pack into bottles)
- 175g sugar
- 1 750ml bottle of Pinot Noir
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 3 star anise
- 1 vanilla pod
Process:
- Peel, core and cut your apples into quarters or roughly the same sizes.
- Place apple pieces into a bowl of salted or lemon water to stop browning, while you are getting on with the rest of the process (25g salt to 1 liter of water).
- To make the spiced sugar syrup, place Pinot Noir, sugar, cinnamon, star anise and vanilla bean pod into a pan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sugar has dissolved.
- Carefully pack apples into your clean sterilised jars. (It looks great with the spices in the jar too)
- Pour the hot syrup into jars and give a sharp knock to remove any air bubbles. Screw on lid tight - then unscrew 1/4 to allow steam to escape while in the water bath.
- In a pot large enough to hold and cover your jar with water, you need to create a false bottom to stop jars from touching the bottom and cracking, place a folded tea towel on the bottom of the pot or a wire trivet.
- Completely cover with warm water (38'C) and bring to a simmering point (88'C) over a period 25-35 minutes. Once you have reached 88'C simmer for 2 minutes.
- The easiest way to take jars from water is to remove some of the hot water first ( a cup is fine) remove from water and stand on a wooden board till completely cooled (overnight). Make sure to check the seal the next day to ensure it is closed properly.
