• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting
    • Composting Basics
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Growing Fruit
    • Growing Herbs
  • Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Vegetarian Meals
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
  • Books & Classes
    • Herbalism Classes
    • Indoor Herb Gardening
    • Books by Jeanne
    • Books for Christian Herbalists
  • About
    • Writer Jeanne Grunert
    • Advertise
    • Awards and Accolades
    • Privacy Policy

Apple Canning Recipes: Super Easy Spiced Apples

August 27, 2018 by Jeanne

Among apple canning recipes, this recipe for spiced apples is a treat you’ll look forward to all winter long. This recipe for canned apples studded with cherries and golden raisins fits the bill. The sweet, tasty, spicy mixture makes a perfect dessert.

Jump to Recipe
ingredients for apple recipe

A Different Recipe for Canning Apples

I was looking for different recipes for canning apples after this year’s harvest. We picked about 3 1/2 bushels of apples from the trees in our orchard. Most of the apples are from the Jonathan apple tree with a few Red and Golden Delicious varieties mixed in.

apple harvest
This year’s apple harvest from our home orchard – mostly Jonathan apples with some Red and Yellow Delicious varieties too.

Last year’s crop was around four bushels of apples. I canned almost all of them in syrup, using some for my apple cobbler recipe and apple butter which I canned and sent to coworkers and family for Christmas.

We still have plenty of canned apples left. There are only so many you can eat! I do like them mixed into a bowl of oatmeal, but I tend to get sick of them over time.

Enter this recipe. When you’re looking for different recipes for canning apples, this one fits the bill perfectly. I adapted it from my favorite canning cookbook, the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which is my ultimate favorite cookbook for all things canning.

A few changes that I made on the original recipe for apples studded with cherries and raisins:

  • I really don’t like nutmeg, so I omitted it from the recipe.
  • I added a dash of cloves and a quarter teaspoon of powdered ginger instead
  • I ran out of syrup for the apples, so I whipped up a quick batch of sugar syrup, based on the recipe in the cookbook, and added it to top off the jars before sealing and processing them.

The apples themselves were sweeter than the tart Granny Smith apples that the recipe called for so I suppose you can call that a change as well. I cook with what I have on hand. When your generous apple trees give you 3 1/2 bushels, you do with them what you can and don’t complain!

I used about half a bushel of small apples for this recipe and it made eight pint jars.  It’s a great recipe when you’re looking for different recipes for canning apples.

More Recipes and Articles Like This

  • Growing Peaches in Virginia
  • Make Your Own Mulling Spice
  • The First Organic Apples
  • Home Canning Update: Our Best Year Ever
  • 25 Easy Apple Recipes for Fall

Below, you’ll find recommended books and products to help you start home canning if you’re interested.

The following are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Thanks so much for being a part of Home Garden Joy!

Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving: 400 Delicious and Creative Recipes for Today

Get the book.

Granite Ware Covered Preserving Canner with Rack, 12-Quart

Hot water bath canning pot (canner)

Mirro 92116 Polished Aluminum 5 / 10 / 15-PSI Pressure Cooker / Canner Cookware, 16-Quart, Silver

Mirro Pressure Canner
First Published: August 2018 Last Updated: October 5, 2020
jar of spiced apples

Canned Apples with Cherries and Golden Raisins

A sweet, spicy autumn apple dessert, canned when you have plenty of fresh apples. The wonderful aroma of this recipe cooking in your kitchen will make you dream of bonfires, hoodies, and fall everything!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 24 medium sized apples Peeled, cored, and cut into eights or sixteenths
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 1/2 cup dried cherries
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried powdered ginger
  • Dash cloves

Instructions
 

  • Prepare a hot water bath canner, eight pint-sized canning jars, lids and rings.
  • Peel, core, and slice the apples. Submerge apple slices in a bowl filled with 1 cup of lemon juice and 4 cups of ice water until all are peeled.
  • Once apples are peeled, drain the lemon and water away. Place all apples in a sauce pan. Toss with sugar to coat. Cover; set aside for 20 minutes. Do not heat.
  • While the apples sit with the sugar, zest and juice the lemon.
  • After the 20 minutes are complete, pour water into the apple mixture. Heat to boiling. Add lemon zest, juice, spices, raisins and cherries. Boil gently for 5 minutes.
  • Use a slotted spoon and place fruit into canning jars. Ladle hot syrup mixture over fruit leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.
  • Remove air bubbles. Clean rims. Place lids and rings. Place into hot water bath canner with enough water to cover the tops as per directions for your canner.
  • Process for 20 minutes in hot water bath canner.
  • Remove canner lid. Wait 10 minutes after processing time to remove jars.
  • Allow to cool. Check seals. Label and date.
Jeanne
Jeanne

Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.

Tweet
Share
Pin7
Share1
8 Shares

Filed Under: Canning and Food Preservation

Follow me on social media

Like
Follow
Follow
Follow
Follow
Previous Post: « Easy & Delicious Fall Butternut Squash Soup Recipe
Next Post: Tomato Recipes for Savoring the Harvest »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • YouTube

HGJ Channel

https://youtu.be/u9KR-0oQivI

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Home Garden Joy was featured by the American Horticultural Society on #plantchat.

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Writer Jeanne Grunert

cover of plan and build a raised bed garden

Find all my books on Amazon.com

Gardening Articles

Quick and Easy Vegetable Gardening Tips and Tricks Anyone Can Do

17 year cicada

Do the 17 Year Cicadas Hurt Gardens?

strawberries are great for vertical gardening

Vertical Gardening Hacks to Expand Your Space

rosemary growing in containers for space saving gardens

5 EASY Space Saving Vegetable Garden Ideas

The Herbal Academy (Affiliate)

Herbal Academy Online Courses

Mountain Rose Herbs (Affiliate)

herbal extracts and a candle

Mountain Rose Herbs, source of dried herbs, extracts, DIY herb products.

Footer

a street corner and mailbox - the corner is planted with abundant wild flowers

Wildflowers for Pollinators

I’ve noticed this little street corner on my dog walking route where wildflowers for pollinators are abundant. When the county mows the grass along the road edges, the mower politely moves around this corner. The wildflowers are abundant, attracting butterflies, pollinators, and insects of all types. And, whoever planted this corner for pollinators also loves…

Read More

blak bean, corn, and tomatoes in a black bean salad in a bowl

Confetti Salad – Black Bean Salad

I made this black bean salad last night and it was a hit! I dubbed it “Confetti Salad” because of all of the beautiful colors. The black beans, corn, pepper, onion, and tomatoes made a hearty, filling meal. By using no-salt added canned beans and tomatoes, along with frozen cooked corn, I was able to…

Read More

a close up of lettuce growing in a container window box

Growing Lettuce in Containers

Growing lettuce in containers is easy! This year, to maximize the food we grow at home, my husband and I planted our front window boxes with lettuce – a veritable salad garden. Here’s what you need to know about growing lettuce in containers. Our Window Box Salad Garden Our window box salad garden began after…

Read More

a plate of Sicilian pasta sauce with cauliflower

Vegan Cauliflower Recipe: Sicilian Sauce

I adapted this vegan cauliflower recipe for Sicilian sauce to my family’s low salt, plant based diet – and got great results. It’s easy to make, tastes wonderful, and gives us another meatless meal for Lent. If you are a Christian seeking Friday dinner ideas for Lent, or simply have a head of cauliflower you…

Read More

Copyright © 2023 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme