Jelly

I love making jam or jelly. I love all the flavors and varieties. I love how the jars look on the shelves in the basement. I love being able to give someone a jar of jelly and a loaf of bread. I love all the antioxidants and vitamins in homemade jam or jelly. I love, a lot, eating a piece of toast with homemade jelly.
 
This year, we had lots of grapes and lots of chokecherries. I picked the fruit, cooked it down, and got the juice in the freezer a few weeks ago.

Yesterday, then, was Jelly Day.

Here are the basics of jelly making:

Wash the jars in the dishwasher or, if you don’t have a dishwasher, bring boiling-water canner, half full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Put the jars in the boiling water till ready to use. Pour boiling water over lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain jars well before filling. You can sterilize your ladle and canning funnel at this time, too.

If you are doing lots of jars and you want to keep some sterile, put some newspaper on your counter (newsprint is sterile unless you’ve used it for something else that day). Turn the jars upside down on the newspaper and they’ll stay clean until you need them.

Remove and discard large stems or leaves from fruit; place in large kettle. Add enough water to nearly cover. Cook on medium heat until juice starts to flow, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 15 minutes, mash fruit occasionally with potato masher.

Place 3 layers of damp cheesecloth or jelly bag in large bowl.

I put the bowl in the sink. This can be a messy job, so it’s best to catch the splashes in or near your sink.

Strain through several layers of cheesecloth first. Pour prepared fruit into cheesecloth. Tie cheesecloth closed; hang and let drip into bowl until dripping stops. Or place the cheesecloth in a colander over a bowl and pour the juice over the cheesecloth. Press gently.

Then, because I like a clear jelly, I strain again through a clean white flour sack dishtowel. I usually buy a couple at the beginning of jelly season.

This is the residue:

And you get:

Measure the prepared juice into 6- or 8-qt. saucepot. (If necessary, add up to 1/2 cup water for exact measure.) Stir in lemon juice.

Make sure this is a big deep saucepot so it doesn’t boil over during the cooking process.

When you make jelly, you are basically making a very soft candy. Measure the sugar, exactly, and have it ready in another bowl. To get exact level cup measures of sugar, spoon sugar into dry metal or plastic measuring cup, then level by scraping excess sugar from top of cup with a straight-edged knife.

Stir pectin into juice in saucepot. Add lemon juice if the recipe calls for it. Add butter if you wish to reduce foaming (I’ve never used butter, but who knows – maybe it works!). Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly.

Stir in sugar (and stir and stir so you don't have sugar lumps). Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Can you see how it's rolling?

Remove from heat.

Skim off any foam with metal spoon. This can be a quick process or takes some patience depending on the fruit you use. For example, the chokecherries have more foam than the grapes.



 Skimmings:

Ladle immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads with a clean cloth. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 minutes (unless you live at sea level – then it’s 5 minutes). Remove jars and place upright on towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middles of lids with finger. (If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

This was halfway through the day. Note the disorganization.

Write on the lids with a permanent marker. Jelly jar companies always put those cute little labels in the box of jars. You put them on the jar one year, and then they are on the jar in perpetuity. You can wash the jars in the dishwasher till the end of time and the labels will never come off. So I write on the lids. They get thrown away when you are done with the jar of jelly, and your jar is all ready for the next year. You can dress up the jar with some fabric and a ribbon if you want to make it pretty.



 So, now that you have the basics down, we can make some jelly! 

CHOKECHERRY JELLY

3 c. chokecherry juice

½ c. lemon juice

1 pkg. pectin

½ tsp. butter - optional

4 ½ c. sugar              

In a large kettle, combine juice and lemon juice. Add pectin, stir, and bring to full boil (this is another  WONDERFUL smell of early fall – cooking chokecherry juice). Add sugar (sounds easy – but stir and stir when you add it because if your sugar clumps, you’ll get lumps in the jelly), bring to full boil and boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat, skim, ladle into sterile jars. Process.  About 7 half pints. 

GRAPE JELLY

5 c. grape juice

¼ c. lemon juice

1 pkg. pectin

½ tsp. butter - optional

7 c. sugar 

In a large kettle, combine juice and lemon juice in a large pot. Add pectin, stir, and bring to full boil. Add sugar (see note above), bring to full boil and boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat, skim, ladle into sterile jars. Process.  About 8 half pints. 

Let’s say you don’t have access to grapes or chokecherries or what-have-you. And you still want to make jelly. Just buy some apple cider or juice and you can make fabulous jelly without all the mashing and cheesecloth. These are both really good. 

SPICED CIDER JELLY

4 c. apple cider or juice    

1 pkg. pectin         

6 ½ c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. cloves                                                                                                           

In large kettle, combine juice and pectin. Bring to full boil. Mix sugar and spices together thoroughly. Add to boiling juice, stir well. Bring to full boil and boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat, skim, ladle into sterile jars. Process. 7 half pints. 

APPLE CINNAMON JELLY

4 c. apple juice       

1 pkg. pectin

4 ½ c. sugar

2 tbs. cinnamon red hots

In large kettle, combine juice and pectin. Bring to full boil, add sugar and red hots. Bring to full boil and boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat, skim, ladle into sterile jars. Process. 7 half pints.

Jelly should sort of hold its shape, but not be too stiff.

When I got done making 3 batches of chokecherry jelly, and 2 batches of grape jelly, and 1 batch of chokecherry/grape jelly, I was tired. Seriously. But I still had some juice left over, so I combined the chokecherry and grape juice and made syrup. And it’s good! 

CHOKECHERRY SYRUP

4 c. chokecherry juice (or a combination of juices)
½ c. corn syrup

½ c. lemon juice

½ package of pectin

6 c. sugar

In large kettle, combine juice, corn syrup and pectin. Bring to full boil, add sugar. Bring to full boil and boil hard 2 minutes. Remove from heat, skim, ladle into sterile jars. Process for 10 minutes in boiling water bath. About 4 pints.

We’ll talk later about the pancakes that go under this syrup, but this is seriously good syrup. And your friends will be absolutely thrilled when you give them a jar of jelly, for Christmas, or whenever. Enjoy!