Jam inspiration needed.

[catboy]

how about using veg instead of fruit? sort of like a sweeter, less savoury chutney? i'm sure corgettes or carrots could be used to make something nice and sweet, as when roasted, they tend to really release their sugars....mmmm...

[boboff]

My best preserve this year though has to be Crab Apple mint jelly. It is really very good indeed. You can eat it with anything, especially good in kebabs and pitta.

Hi Boboff haven't seen you around much lately! Do you have a recipe for your crab apple and mint jelly? I'm embarrassed to say I have a crab apple tree laden with tiny fruits and I haven't done a thing with them yet -I think I've been put off by all that dripping juice through muslim thing but I really should have a go.

Susie

I lurk!

Well you should use them as they are the best apples I think for making savory jellies.

First job is to make it easy on yourself and stop the mint floating, to do this you need to get the mint pretty well saturated with sugar. Chop it up, add it to a pan of boiling water, enough to cover, then add about the same amount of sugar and dissolve, leave this to then cool overnight. (The big boys soak in fructose to achieve this same end)

Just cut the crab apples in half and add to the pan, cover with water, juice and rind of a lemon. You can add mint stalks and leaves etc here but do not have too, it adds to the flavour.

Boil until pulpey, and then strain through a jelly bag ( I bought one with a plastic stand that convenient sits on top of a jam pan, so the juice goes where you want. Leave for a min of 2 hours.

Add your 500g of sugar per 600ml of juice to the pan, and boil to jam set. At this point you could take some off for other jellies, if you chop up your herbs with sugar on the board, it again helps with floating. I have made Sage, Basil, Thyme, Parsley, and they are all good. Just put the herbs and sugar in the number of jars you want to make and then top up with the jelly. I picked lavender flowers on a couple of jars and added which look lovely, and I think will make great gifts for Christmas. Anyway, once you have finished faffing, add your mint syrup to the remaining juice and stir, make sure your still hot, I know you are, hey baby!, and put in jars and seal, baby food jars are good size, and the lids re-use ok.

There you are, you should get a lovely rose coloured jelly with mint and sharp apple jelly tones.

Oh, and the reason I "discovered" this recipe? Well the mint jelly I had made I had put too much mint stalks in the original mix, and it went like a lump of grass in the pan, and when I drained it and made it, it did not set, so I already had my mint pretty well saturated with sugar, a serendipitous error in hindsight!

[bobby280]

Disaster. Made loads of jelly lst night, somehow much more than i had jars for, but it hasn't set. I think it was a combo of lack of pectin and undercooking but it could have been one or the other. Other than giving away to use as syrup (I think it will go nicely with vanilla icecream or as a sauce with game) is there any way I can cook it again to make it set, possibly adding pectin? Or, I have some rubbery jelly from last time when I overcooked it (yes, i am a pro) - could i melt that down, add the unset and hope that works? Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers
Bob

[MKG]

No such thing as a disaster - merely an unexpected result

Yes, you can reheat and add pectin - but be careful of reheating for too long, otherwise you may end up with an "overset" jelly. Again, not a disaster, but the texture may not be what you're looking for. Certainly, I'd try reheating without added pectin, just in case you never reached the setting point (if you think that might be the problem). In any case, the syrup is chemically identical to the jelly, so it will keep in that state.

Probably the best thing to do is to tell us the recipe - then the jam and jelly experts can have a look and offer advice.

Mike

[bobby280]

Thanks. I had assumed it would be chemically the same so hopefully will keep ok. Receipe? Hmmm, loads of rowans, quite a lot of elder and a small amount of blackberries. It came to just over 3 litres, I used sugar on the basis of a pound a pint and added some orange zest, which i thought was going to have enough pectin. The pot was so full so I could only boil it steadily, not fast, but it probably had 20-30 minutes.

[bobby280]

Haha, that's very funny. Shows dedication! Right, well, that has made me feel a bit better. So I could empty it all out, reheat, add a touch of pectin (or maybe some apple cores?) and try again, cleaning and resterilising the jars? What method do people use for the sterilising?

[bobby280]

Thanks. Have fouind a thread on sterilising. Seems people have lots of different ways and they all work...haven't heard anyone have an issue with that.

[Millymollymandy]

Bobby you need lemon juice with those fruits as they are not high in pectin. If you have a search on the internet you should find plenty of sites giving lists of fruits and whether they are high, low or medium with regard to pectin.

Offhand I know that blackberry and elderberry need lemon juice (pectin). I imagine rowan does too.

Strawbs are really low in pectin whilst redcurrants are really high.

That's why I make mixes such as the one I mentioned to you in another thread - apple, redcurrant and elderberry. That makes two fruits with medium to high pectin and one with low, so they would be about right without lemon juice.

[Millymollymandy]

The pot was so full so I could only boil it steadily, not fast, but it probably had 20-30 minutes.

Sorry, just spotted this. When you do reboil (with juice of a lemon) you'll have to do it in two batches, as you need a really hot rolling boil to reach setting point.

I only have one gas burner that is hot enough to achieve that on my hob and it's the faulty one which has enormous flames!

[bobby280]

Cheers, again. I did it before these tips, using added pectin. Annoyingly, like a dimwit, i added it in one big go and I'm worried it didn't disolve properley and got skimmed off the top. Oh well. Its in the fridge, it's better than last time - we shall see.

[homegrown]

What about a nice windfallfruit chutney or pumpkin and ginger preserve, or carrot and rhubarb marmalade, have recipes if needed.
we just used the last of last years oh's tomato relish and are down to two jars of quince jelly, looking forward to next crop of tomatos, as well as her cucumber,yoghurt and mint dip, cucumber and capsicum pickle.