When we had a banner elderberry harvest, my friend, Tami, and I experimented with a variety of elderberry recipes, including two different types of elderberry jelly. One recipe is low sugar elderberry jelly made with Pomona's Pectin, and the other is a traditional elderberry jelly made with Sure-Jell pectin. [Read more…]
Queen Anne’s Lace Jelly with Currants – You Won’t Believe the Flavor
While gathering this year's currant harvest, I had a vision. What if I combined Queen Anne's lace jelly with currants for a unique seasonal treat? I could picture the clear jelly with bright red berries suspended in it for a pop of color and flavor. All I needed to do was figure out a way to make it happen. Luckily, I had one of my dearest friends visiting and a cool summer day. We started canning and cooking and made a day of it. The results of the experiment were delicious. [Read more…]
Striped Jelly – Makes a One of a Kind Homemade Gift
I first saw striped jelly in a Facebook group and thought that it looked absolutely beautiful. There was only a photo, no instructions. The person who shared the photo said that her daughter had made some up for a local farm market. The daughter had planned to price it the same as the other jams, but the mom convinced her to charge extra because of the labor involved. Mom was right again, as the striped jelly sold out almost immediately, even at a much higher price.
I was inspired to give striped jelly a try, so during the season, I saved and froze different types of fruit juice and puree. When my sister came to visit last weekend, she asked if I had any extra jams or jelly that her granddaughter could use for a school fundraiser. Since trying new ideas is always more fun when you have a “partner in crime”, I dug out my fruit stash and my sis and I made up 15 jars of beautiful fruit striped yumminess. Here's how we did it.
By the way – if you don't have a stash of fruit puree, remember that you can always use fruit juices or frozen fruit for jellies and jams.
How to Make Apple Jelly With Just Two Ingredients
The natural pectin in apples prompted the authors of Stocking Up III to call apple jelly “the simplest of jellies” because it is made with only apples and sweetener. This year we had a ton of crabapples gifted to us from a neighbor. I canned 14 quarts whole as honey-cinnamon crabapples, made some into applesauce and used some for both juice and sauce. It was nice to get two end products out of the same batch of apples. I cooked the apples up one night and made the jelly the next day so the juice had time to drain. [Read more…]
How to Make Currant Jelly with No Added Pectin
I think God has a funny sense of humor. I was thinking last weekend, “Hmmm, I wonder if my neighbor will have any extra currants this year since she didn't have much of a harvest last year. It wouldn't be too bad if she didn't as I am quite busy enough already.” Said neighbor called later the same day to let me know she has a bumper crop of currants, and would I like to come over and pick some? Never one to turn away something free or waste food, of course I said “Yes”. So Tuesday morning was spent picking currants, and over the course of the day we cleaned them (picked out debris), washed them and made them into currant jelly. [Read more…]
