The Song Of The Crab-Apple Fairy

This poem takes me back to childhood summers when

I would climb up into the leafy branches of a wild crab apple

tree which grew in our side yard.  How well I remember

trying to bite into one of those hard, sour-sweet fruits!

But they do make some great jelly!

Wild Crab-Apples

Crab-apples, Crab-apples, out in the wood,

Little and bitter, yet little and good!

The apples in orchards, so rosy and fine,

Are children of wild little apples like mine.

The branches are laden, and droop to the ground;

The fairy-fruit falls in a circle around;

Now all you good children, come gather them up;

They'll make you sweet jelly to spread when you sup.

One little apple I'll catch for myself;

I'll stew it, and strain it, to store on a shelf

In four or five acorn-cups, locked with a key

In a cupboard of mine at the root of the tree.

The Crab-Apple Tree Fairy

Cecily Mary Barker

AN OLD-FASHIONED RECIPE FOR

CRAB-APPLE JELLY

Wash and wipe apples, remove stem and blossom ends,

but leave the apples whole instead of cutting into quarters.

Put in a granite or porcelain-lined kettle, 

(or a large enough modern day stainless steel pot)

and add cold water to come nearly to the top of the apples.

Cover, and cook slowly until apples are soft;

mash and drain through a coarse sieve.

Avoid squeezing apples, which makes jelly cloudy.

Then allow juice to drip through a double thickness of

cheese cloth or a jelly bag. 

Boil twenty minutes and add an equal quantity of heated sugar;
(add a cup of sugar for each cup of juice)

boil five minute, and skim, and turn into glasses.

Put in a sunny window sill, and let stand twenty-four hours.

Cover, and keep in a cool, dry place.

"The Song Of The Crab-Apple Fairy"

Poem and Illustration by

Cecily Mary Barker

(1895-1973)

English illustrator and poetess

"Crab Apple Jelly Recipe"

Courtesy of "The 1896 Cooking-School Cook Book"

By Fannie Merritt Farmer

Random House Value Publishing, Inc.

(C. 1997)