SaurabhApple Jelly or Apple Jam is a perfect yummy treat no matter what the season you’re in. It’s perfect for breakfast with your choice of toast, barbecue marinade add-on, and for making apple pies or tarts. Whether we use it for savory dishes or desserts, you can’t seem to go wrong with this all-around apple jelly.
However, there are times where we ran out of kitchen ingredients and apple jelly is no exception.
If you do run out, there’s a lot of good substitutes that you can replace for apple jelly such as marmalade. Other substitutes that you can also use peach jam, raspberry jam, apricot jam, and pear jam.
Best Apple Jelly Substitutes
Those substitutes will come in handy whenever you need it to the rescue. We’ll show you right here on how you can substitute these treats to your good old apple jelly.
1. Marmalade or Orange Jam
Marmalade is one of the most common fruit preserves present in every kitchen. Especially if you’re located in a place where there’s an abundance of citrus fruits.
Originally the citrus fruit used for marmalade is bitter orange. But now you can find a lot of variations in the market such as sweet oranges, bergamots, limes, lemons, and mandarins.
Just like apple jelly, marmalade is high pectin content which is a structural acidic compound produced by most citrus fruits commonly used in food as a gelling agent. That explains why most fruit jellies or jams are in a gel-like form.
Marmalades are perfect for breakfast with toast and butter. But, for my favorite recipe Chicken Wings Barbecue, if apple jelly is not available, I use marmalade instead.
It doesn’t matter what kind of citrus. For 1 cup of apple jelly, I just simply replace it with 1 cup of marmalade good for marinating 12 chicken wings. I’m telling you it tastes really good!
2. Peach Jam
Peach Jams is another fruit preserve that you can get either a whole fruit jam or a conserve. When in season, you can’t miss saving most of your harvests for the year to make your peaches last. It’s just perfect to make jams out of these sweet peaches.
Like the apples, peaches need to be peeled and you can’t include the skin in the jam. This might take a bit of time however it’s easy to make from scratch once the peeling stage is done. But unlike citrus fruits, peaches have low pectin, so you would need to add some when making it from scratch.
The famous dish Apple Glazed Pork is super delicious. You can’t skip this dish during special occasions, right? But, Peach Glazed Pork does the same job for the dish.
It adds that sweet, tangy, and savory flavor to that pork tenderloin meat. Replace your usual apple glaze with 3 tbsps of peach jam to the mixture. Brush it evenly to the meat while grilling.
3. Raspberry Jam
If you’re lucky enough to have an abundance of raspberries in your location, take advantage of it! Out of all of the berries out there, raspberries are one of the cheapest and sweetest in the market. During summertime, it’s easy to forage them in the wilds and pick those fresh and ripe raspberries.
Raspberry jam is commonly used for breakfast spreads, pie fillings, and dessert toppings. When making the jam, you don’t really need the pectin since it naturally creates its own jelly substance. That explains why it’s the texture is less watery than other jams.
When making pies or tarts, raspberry jam is a perfect weapon. Just like apple jelly, raspberry jam holds well inside the pie when cooked.
It doesn’t break the dough or make it soggy. For a typical shortbread tart, replace ¾ cup of apple jelly to ¾ cup of strawberry jam.
4. Apricot Jam
Most people are a fan of the deep and tart flavor of apricots. Most bakers are hands down impressed with the apricot jam’s ability to perform in the kitchen by providing that glossy shine and sweetness to fruit tarts and other desserts.
Unlike other fruits such as peaches, apricots have lower pectin. You would need to add pectin to your ingredients when making it from scratch. Apricot jams go well with cream cheese or ricotta cheese then paired with bread and coffee.
But other than a breakfast rockstar, apricot jam is also perfect to use for savory dishes. Can you imagine using it for meatballs? If there’s no apple jelly, I cook the ready-made meatballs in a ½ cup apricot jam and ¼ cup barbecue sauce in the oven. That would add a twist to your regular meatball game.
5. Pear Jam
Pear actually resembles the apples in away. There’s just quite a difference for the shape but it has that same crunch and sweetness. Pears are commonly available in supermarkets and it’s actually cheaper compared to apples depending on where you live.
Pears also have a large amount of pectin that’s why this is actually one of the perfect replacements for apples when making jelly or adding for certain recipes.
Just take note that when making pear jam from scratch, it has to be hard and not overripe. Your jam will fall apart or mushy if you choose the overripe ones.
Pear jam can be also mixed with other jams such as marmalade. For example for this dish that I love to make, Ham Steaks. I mix 1 cup of pear jam to replace 1 cup of apple jelly mixed with ¾ cups of marmalade. This will make a perfect sauce to your typical ham steaks.
My Personal Pick
Well, there you have it! You’ve got your top 5 apple jelly substitutes for the next time you ran out in your kitchen.
But still, I know most of you have a question in mind, “Which one’s the best bet?”
Well for one, I’m not an expert with jams or fruit preserves but based on my own personal experience, pear jam and marmalade works well when substituting apple jelly.
Pear jam for me is like a doppelganger of apples so it makes sense why this is the closest choice you can pick.
Although it’s not as sweet as apples, it does the work. For marmalade, it offers that sweet, tangy, and jelly texture to any dishes just like how apple jelly does.
Now, the decision is all up to you. Guaranteed that any of those jams mentioned above can definitely substitute your apple jelly.
Bonus Recipe!
“APPLE JELLY RECIPE”
Ingredients:
- 3 lbs of apples (diced and cornered)
- 3 cups of water
- 7 cups white sugar
- 2 ounces powdered fruit pectin
- ½ tsp melted butter
Instructions:
- Wash the apples thoroughly making sure there’s no dust or other dirt left on it.
- Peel the skin, corner, and take out the seeds and stem. Then cut it into small dice.
- Place the apples in a large boiling pot and cover.
- Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Cover it to simmer again for another 5 minutes or until the apples are tender.
- Crush the cooked apples with a fork or masher then simmer again for 5 more minutes.
- Move the crushed apples into a sieve or a piece of clean cloth to strain all the liquid. Press it gently and release all the juices.
- You should have a yield of 5-6 cups of apple juice. Add water if it needs more.
- Then mix the sugar and butter, stir well.
- Stir in the butter so the juice will stop producing foams.
- Bring the juice mixture into a boil and add pectin while stirring it constantly.
- Skim the excess foam.
- Sterilize the jars in boiling water for 5 minutes.
- Fill the jars with apple jelly ⅛ inch of the top and seal it making sure it’s airtight.
- Boil the jars in a large stockpot for 5 minutes.
- Remove then cool it for 24 hours. Store in the fridge until 3 weeks.
