Saturday, November 29, 2014

Apple Mint Jelly

As I sit down to write this entry I realise that the recipe is at the other end of country, so no measurements sorry but some pretty pictures.

These are the apples you should use, Granny Smiths (aka green apples). They have the highest pectin in the peel so gel the best and often negate the need for additional gelatine.

Ideally you want to use a lot of small apples to maximise the peel to flesh ratio.

My mint plant looking a little bit worse for wear after being raided for the mint jelly.

Roughly chopped apples (pips and all), mint, lemon rind + juice, water. If you over-boil at this stage you will get very little liquid later on, so my advice is to be generous with the water now - you should still be able to get it to gel.

Boiled down a bit to get all the goodness out of the peel.

This was a previous batch which was overboiled - but you can still add extra water later on, it's just better not to (I believe).

The setup: hot, damp cheesecloth in a sieve resting over a tall bowl (need plenty of room for the liquid to fall - liquid level should never reach the bottom of the sieve.

Heaps of apple mush beginning to fall through. Leave for several hours (overnight in the mcrowave to keep away the nasties).

Awww yeah look at all that goodness. Actually this won't make very much at all. Next time I would add a cup or two of water to this. It will still be thick-ish but will maximise output (esp as I don't think mint jelly has to be rock-hard jelly).

Now we boil it up (gently) with 2/3C of sugar added for every cup of liquid. Her you can see the bowl with the foam skimmed off of the top.

Colour change due to food colouring. You can see how much liquid has been lost.

Jars are fresh out of the dishwasher and in the oven on low to dry completely and stay hot.


Dark green jar from a previous batch (that I boiled too much so only ended up with one jar worth of liquid). Lighter green jars have just been filled and are upside down to help the lids reseal (button pops back down).

Still only got 3 jars out of this batch (began with 4 medium apples), jelly is still thick so will water down more at the beginning next time.


DISCLAIMER: I often reuse food jars and have never had a problem with sealing or sterilisation - some people however will tell you that it is a bad idea to use these lids. Do your own research and make up your own mind.



Time for dishes.

KITTY!








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