Category: Canning, etc. -

Apple Jelly     

Ingredients:
6 lbs. of apples to yield about 6 cups of apple juice
Choose apples that are naturally sweet, like Red Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Rome and always use a mixture - never just one type.
½ tsp. cinnamon
1 box pectin
7 cups sugar

Preparation:
Peel, core, and chop the apples. Using a paring knife, remove any seeds, hard parts around the seeds, and any mushy or dark areas.
Put about 1 inch of water or apple juice on the bottom of a huge, thick-bottomed pot. Put the lid on, and heat on high. When it gets really going, turn it to medium high until the apples are soft.
Put the soft cooked apples through a jelly strainer. You'll need about 6 cups of juice now.
In a small bowl, mix the dry pectin with about 1/4 cup of sugar. Keep this separate from the rest of the sugar. You can add about 20% more pectin (just open another pack and add a little) or else the jam is too runny.
Stir the pectin into the apple juice and put the mix in a big pot on the stove over medium to high heat (stir often enough to prevent burning). It should take about 5 to 10 minutes to get it to a full boil (the kind that can not be stirred away).
When the apple-pectin mix has reached a full boil, add the rest of the sugar and then bring it back to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute.
I keep a metal tablespoon sitting in a glass of ice water, then take a half spoonful of the mix and let it cool to room temperature on the spoon. If it thickens up to the consistency I like, then I know the jam is ready. If not, I mix in a little more pectin (about 1/4 to 1/2 of another package) and bring it to a boil again for 1 minute.
Fill jars to within ¼-inch of the top, wipe any spilled jam off the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Don’t over tighten. Then put them into the boiling water canner. The jars should be covered with at least 2 inches of water. Keep the water boiling. Boil for the time recommended in the package of pectin.

Date added: 2012-11-19
Number of visits: 2560