cranberry jelly
I have to brag a bit. Yesterday I picked a ton of high bush cranberries and froze them (to make them easier to get off the stems). Today I made cranberry jelly (first time ever). It turned out beau...
Forum Discussion
We put up all sorts of jellies, jams and preserves this time of year, eventually giving most of it away during the holidays. So far this season we have done concord grape jelly (off our vines), strawberry jam (home grown), mint jelly (also home grown), rhubarb jam (home grown again), peach jam, orange marmalade, and cherry tomato jam (home grown and don't wince until you've tried it!).
As to the recipes, making jellies and jams is super simple. We use the low/no sugar pectin as it actually comes out sweeter than the high sugar recipes.
For jellies, we have a Breville juicer which we use to extract the juices, then boil in the sugar and pectin according to the recipe, jar it up, and then process.
For the jams and preserves, we just boil down the fruits, using a masher to get the desired consistency, then add in the sugar and pectin, jar it up and then process.
You can only do small batches of jellies and jams at a time otherwise it will not properly set up. We also use 1 1/2 packages of pectin because we find that a single package does not firm up how we like it. With about 6 pounds of fruit, we fill 7-8 jelly jars.
As to the recipes, making jellies and jams is super simple. We use the low/no sugar pectin as it actually comes out sweeter than the high sugar recipes.
For jellies, we have a Breville juicer which we use to extract the juices, then boil in the sugar and pectin according to the recipe, jar it up, and then process.
For the jams and preserves, we just boil down the fruits, using a masher to get the desired consistency, then add in the sugar and pectin, jar it up and then process.
You can only do small batches of jellies and jams at a time otherwise it will not properly set up. We also use 1 1/2 packages of pectin because we find that a single package does not firm up how we like it. With about 6 pounds of fruit, we fill 7-8 jelly jars.
