we used to eat crabapple pickles....they were left whole, a clove was stuck in each one, they were packed in a jar and then covered with a sweet brine and put in the canner. Nummy! The red sliced pickled ones you can buy in the grocery store just don't compare. I just found the recipe which is labeled "Aunty Dora's Crap Apple Pickles"
Cut blossom ends from crabs, put 2-3 cloves in each apple
3 Cups of Sugar, 1 Cup of Water, 1 Cup of vinegar. Boil 5 minutes or until they crack, Put in hot sterilized jars and lids and seal up tight. ...then an addition to the recipe, put jars in canning kettle in boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Have an additional note, "doubled syrup and got 7 pints" No mention of how many apples other than 12-14 apples to a quart. (guess that would be 6-7 to a pint) We made these under mom's directions of course but mom was not great on specifying amounts of things.