Iraqi Apple Preserve

Submitted by Susiecat too

"This is a lovely use for apples! From "The Book of Jewish Food" by Claudia Roden. She suggests serving this with yogurt to balance the sweetness. The rosewater flavor is strong here, so if you are shy about rosewater consider cutting the amount in half. This would be lovely as a filling in a white cake, layered with vanilla pastry cream in between the cake layers."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 5
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• 2 lbs apples
• 1 lemon, juice of
• 3 1⁄3 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons rose water

directions

1. Peel, cut in half and core the apples and drop them in a bowl of water with 3/4 of the lemon juice to prevent them from browning.
2. Make a syrup by boiling the sugar and water with the remaining lemon juice, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes, or until very thick.
3. Drain the apples and drop them into the syrup.
4. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until tender and the syrup has become thick again.
5. Add the rose water and cook, stirring, for a moment more.
6. Lift out the apples and place them in a serving bowl or in jars. Pour the syrup over the apples.

Reviews

[UmmBinat]

Soooo good!! It is very, very sweet but I'm sure that is how it is supposed to be. I will make it again cutting the sugar a bit and see how that goes. DD1 (4 years old) and I enjoyed this with Balkan (thick) yogurt & pistachio nuts sprinkled on top. I cut the rose water in half, using Iranian, which I find of better quality and it was not too strong at all (I know some fake flavoured ones can be stronger but I didn't even want the full amount in the lighter tasting variety out of preference). I used mainly gala apples and a couple red delicious as that's what I had on hand, freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus the rest of the ingredients. I will make this again and try it over recipe#45998 with Balkan yogurt, and no sugar obviously.

 

[Chef Kate]

OOh--so lovely! VERY sweet and one eoes have to like the undertones of rosewater, but really good. I made a small batch--had some with yogurt as suggestd and loved it. Have another jar put up and I think I'll use that in a layer cake or maybe in choux puffs. Thanks, Susie!