Ringo-kan (Apple Jelly, Japanese Style)

Ingredients

• 0.5 pound seaweed jelly
• 0.75 pound sugar
• 2 tart apples, large
• 2 tablespoons kudzu starch
• 1.5 quarts water
• pinch salt

Instructions

1. Wash half a pound of seaweed jelly and soak it in water for about three hours.
2. Squeeze the jelly dry and break it into small pieces into a pan with one and a half quarts of water.
3. Boil over medium heat.
4. Add three quarters of a pound of sugar, stirring constantly, and a pinch of salt.
5. Peel and remove the cores from two big, tart apples.
6. Rub the apples on a nutmeg grater until reduced to powder.
7. Transfer the jelly to another saucepan and strain it.
8. Mix the strained jelly with the powdered apple.
9. When thoroughly boiled, add two tablespoonfuls of kudzu starch that has been dissolved in cold water.
10. Stir well with wooden chopsticks or a spoon.
11. Remove from fire and pour into a lacquered box or molds.
12. After two or three hours, once it has hardened, cut into desired shapes and sizes.