It's to late tonight and I'm exhausted but tomorrow I will be sharing the new recipes I tried today. Orange Jelly and Corn Relish.
The Orange Jelly is so amazing.....I just can't explain it, really you are going to have to try this recipe out. As a matter of fact I have the same thing to say about Corn Relish.
See you tomorrow and I oh so hope you enjoy these as much as we are!
Read this recipe all the way through before beginning. I made some adjustments and changes to it as I did mine. You can follow what I did or follow the recipe, whichever way works best for you. Following this recipe is a
personal choice, I can't be help responsible for any negative results you get from using it or storing it.
3 cups packed Mint Leaves
Green Food Coloring
4 cups Sugar
1 pkg, powdered pectin
This recipe calls for using Mint leaves, so if you have Mint in your garden this is a good recipe for it.
Pick and wash fresh mint leaves carefully and bring to a boil with 3 3/4 cup of water.
(I went a step further with mine and tore my leaves in
half)
Steep (leave the leaves sitting in the water off of heat source) for at least 10 minutes. (I let mine sit for about 20 minutes to assure I had a good amount of mint flavoring)
Strain through a double layer of cheesecloth and measure out 3 cups of the mint infusion. (I didn't have cheese cloth but did have one of the wire strainers that has very small holes, it worked great)
Add few drops of green food coloring to get the desired color you want.
Combine the mint infusion and sugar in a large kettle and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved, then continue the boil for 1 minute.
Add pectin all at once, continue to stir constantly and boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and skim off foam. (I avoid this step by adding a 1/2 tsp butter, it keeps jelly from foaming and doesn't affect the taste at all)
Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal with parrafin. (I also did not seal mine in this manner I put , mine in the sterilized jars, put seals and lids on them and then ran them for 10 minutes in boiling water in my cold pack canner, worked great)
Additional Notes: Once the jelly was done and one jar cooled I put it in the refrigerator. Once cooled I tried it one a slice of toast and it was okay. Not quite as strong in the mint flavor as I expected but you could definitely taste the mint. I have read often where mint jelly is good for use when cooking lamb. We don't eat lamb but I'm thinking it would be great on pork.
10 c minced zucchini
5 c minced onions (I didn't realize I didn't have an onion at the time so
I used 2 1/2 c of onions I had dehydrated, worked out very well)
1 c diced celery
3 green bell peppers, diced
2 red bell peppers, diced
1 c pickling salt (I used sea salt, worked great)
2 teaspoons of turmeric
1 tablespoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons celery seeds.
6 c sugar
5 c white vinegar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Combine zucchini, onions, celery and peppers with salt. Stir well, cover and
let stand overnight.
Rinse and drain thoroughly, I did a double rinse on mine, you want to remove
all that salt.( I also ran mine through a hand operated food mill, one like
you would use to get the juice out of tomatoes and is cone shaped. Sorry I don't
know the actual name of it.) You want to be sure you get all the liquid out of
it you can, this is important.
In a large pot combine remaining ingredients, add the vegetables and bring to
a rolling boil. That is a boil that cannot be stirred down. Then reduce heat and
boil gently for 20 minutes.
Ladle relish into clean, hopt pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space and
seal.
Process in a boiling cold bath canner for 15 minutes.
Yields 8 pints.
If you tasted this without knowing what it was you would think you were eating sweet pickle relish. This is so amazing I won't make sweet pickle relish for my family any more, they loved it. I did make some adjustments to this recipe to suit my needs, However,following what I did is a personal
choice and I can't be held responsible for any negative results you may
get.
2 cups seeded and diced watermelon (again I put mine through the juicer)
3 1/2 cups sugar
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice (used bottled lemon juice as it was all I
had and it worked fine)
1 package powder pectin (I used sure jell and it did not come out as
thick as I thought it should have been so it's more like a syrup than a
jelly which is fine with my family they are using it on pancakes. I've put it
on toast but you certainly wouldn't want to let a small child handle it, there
is likely to be a mess.)
Food process or blend watermelon until completely smooth. That should make
about 2 cups of juice.
At this point I strain mine, but you don't have to. (if you run it
through a juicer as I did this step is not necessary)
In a 6 to 8 quart Dutch oven combine the watermelon puree, sugar and lemon
juice. Bring to a full rolling boil ( a boil that cannot be stirred down) over
high heat, stirring constantly.
Stir in the pectin all at once. Return mixture to a full rolling boil, boil
hard for 1 minute stirring constantly
Take of heat, skim off foam. (I added about 1/2 tsp butter to mine and it
makes this step unnecessary and doesn't change the flavor at all, I do this with
all jelly/jam recipes)
Ladle jelly into clean hot half pint jars leaving 1/4 in head space. (I
used pint jars that way I had one jar not full. I canned the others and put the
one that wasn't full in the refrigerator for immediate use)
Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. Allow to cool
completely away from drafts. I set mine on cooling racks. Then store in a cool
dark place. Makes 4 half pints.
I made some changes to this recipe to suit my personal needs,
However,following what I did is a personal choice and I can't be held
responsible for any negative results you may get.
Cantaloupe Jelly
2 1/2 pounds peeled and diced cantaloupe
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 peel of tangerine or orange (I used a zester to remove the peel and it
worked out perfectly)
Place cantaloupe covered with sugar in a covered bowl and put in refrigerator
for 24 hours.
Drain the cantaloupe, pouring off the sugar and liquid in a large saucepan.
Bring to boil over medium heat and boil for 5 minutes.
Add diced cantaloupe, vanilla extract and peel. Insert candy thermometer and
simmer, stirring occasionally until the thermometer reaches jelly temperature
(220 degrees) Pour into sterilized jars: seal with wax and store in a cool
place.
Makes about 2 pints.
Now on a personal note. I did not put my in the refrigerator for 24
hours. I ran mine through a juicer. I then took the juice and sugar and put it
into a pot and brought it to the recommended boil and temp. Then in the part of
the recipe where it calls for adding the diced cantaloupe I added the pulp that
came out when I juiced it. Worked out so well. I also did not seal mine with
wax, I'm paranoid of that method so I went ahead and filled my jelly jars and
put it in a cold bath canner for 15 minutes. All sealed and are doing great as I
followed the directions for doing that from another recipe I found. So those
are the personal adjustments I made to the recipe. However,following
what I did is a personal choice and I can't be held responsible for any negative
results you may get.
RSS Feed