Directions: |
Directions:1. Sterilize jelly glasses or jars as for jam making.
2. Select sound fruit, using equal parts of ripe and slightly under-ripe fruit.
3. Wash thoroughly and discard any damaged spots.
4. Prepare apples: remove stems and blossom ends, cut into eighths or slice.
5. Add cold water, using proportion of water to prepared fruit, as to completely cover in a large saucepan.
6. Simmer fruit and water in a covered saucepan until fruit is soft and mushy, rushing during cooking.
7. Pour hot cooked fruit into a moistened jelly bag made of factory cotton or several thicknesses of fine cheesecloth. Hang up over a bowl and allow to drain until dripping ceases. Squeezing the bag increases the quantity of the juice, but the jelly will be cloudy.
8. Work with small amounts of extracted juice at a time – not more than 8 cups. Measure each lot of juice accurately, to determine the amount of sugar to be added after boiling (9 cups sugar to 10 cups juice, for example).
9. Boil juice, uncovered, in a broad saucepan for three minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and test for pectin. If clot does not form, continue boiling, testing frequently, until pectin text is satisfactory. An alcohol test for pectin is helpful – measure 1 tsp fruit juice and 1 tsp rubbing alcohol into a cup or small dish. Blend quickly together and let stand 30 seconds. If a jelly-like mass or clot is formed, the juice contains sufficient pectin. Sugar may then be added.
10. Measure sugar, allowing 3/4 cup sugar for each cup of extracted juice, except when a heavy solid clot forms when pectin test is made, at the end of the 3 minute boiling period. This heavy clot indicates that the juice is so rich in pectin that 1 cup sugar for each cup of extracted juice should be used.
11. Add measured sugar slowly to juice. Boil briskly, uncovered, removing scum.
12. To test when jelly is done, dip up the boiling syrup with a metal spoon, holding well above the sauce pan, and allow it to run off the edge. When two drops form and then flow together to form a ‘sheet’, the jelly stage has been reached. Immediately remove from the heat. Longer boiling will give a stiff, tough jelly.
13. Let hot juice stand in pot for about 1 minute and remove last bit of scum with a cold fork or spoon.
14. Pour into hot, sterilized jelly glasses, filling to within 1/4 inch of the top. Using a slightly moistened, clean cloth, carefully remove any trace of jelly clinging to the inside of the glass above the jelly level. Then wipe with a clean, dry cloth. This ensures a better seal when paraffin is added.
15. Let stand until partially set, then pour a thin layer of hot, melted paraffin wax to completely cover the jelly and leave until hardened. Then add a second layer of hot wax, rotating so that wax adheres to glass. Cover with paper or metal lid and more. |
This recipe for Crab Apple Jelly is from