Crabapple

Malus sylvestris · Pome fruit

40 pairings

A crabapple is the small, intensely tart fruit of any wild or ornamental Malus species — most are no bigger than a cherry or walnut. Too sharp and astringent to eat raw, they are prized for jelly, verjus and cider, and orchards plant them as pollinators for dessert apples.

Picking a good onedrag

Hard, green, just pickedSoft, mealy, fermenting

Full colourJelly, cider and verjus - acid and pectin both at their highest.Peak press

SkinFull colour under a faint waxy bloom

FleshHard, the faintest give at the shoulder

Stem and socketStem on but dry and brown

SmellSharp and cidery, barely sweet

Reading a just ripe one. Move the slider and the rest of this page — nutrition, pairings — re-scores with it.

What one gives you

92%

Usable yield

920 g a kilo, core and stems out

55%

Juice yield

about 550 ml a kilo, pressed

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 6× longer than the counter.

Humidity

90%

A punched bag or the crisper drawer, around 90%. Bare on a dry shelf the skin wrinkles and the fruit goes leathery long before it rots.

Airflow

Bagged but punched

A perforated bag holds the damp and keeps out fridge odours, which crabapples take up readily; sealed tight, trapped CO2 browns the core.

Ripens everything around it

Wild Malus fruit are among the heaviest ethylene producers measured. Keep a bowl of them off lettuce, broccoli, herbs and any fruit you want to hold back.

Preparing