It's that time of year, preserving the bounties of the garden.
I am new to the canning scene. I bought a pressure canner last summer, and I have used it twice to can green beans. I was very proud of my accomplishment.
I always want to make jellies and jams when fruit comes in season, but instead I end up freezing the fruit for smoothies or eating it. Well, I found a solution in this book.
MICROWAVE GRAPE JELLY
The recipe allows you to use grape juice in the place of real grapes.
I thought you could probably use this same recipe for any number of fruit juices, and you don't have to use up your fruit (unless you want to).
So, I bought a good quality fruit juice for my recipe.
I needed a powdered fruit pectin, lemon juice and sugar, along with my canning jars.
The recipe makes a small batch, so I made four batches and ended up with seven pints and 6 1/2 pints of concord grape jelly. I sampled it and it is good. You could play with the amount of sugar in the recipe or even substitute a different sweetener.
I hope you try this recipe, it is really simple.
I think I will try making apple jelly next with apple juice.
Here's the recipe...
MICROWAVE GRAPE JELLY
1 1/2 cup grape juice, 1 Tbsp. powdered fruit pectin,
2 tsp. lemon juice, 1 3/4 cup of sugar
Combine grape juice, pectin, and lemon juice in a 3 quart microwave-safe bowl.
Cover with plastic wrap or wax paper and bring to a boil in microwave on a high setting (about 5 minutes). Remove from microwave. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return covered mixture to microwave and bring to a boil on a high setting (about 4 minutes). Remove from microwave oven, stir. Return uncovered mixture to microwave and cook until jelly sheets from a spoon (about 1 minute). Remove from microwave and skim foam if needed. Ladle hot jelly into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 5 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Do not attempt to process in microwave oven. Yield: about 2 pints, and a 1/2.
NOTE: DO NOT USE METAL SPOON TO STIR,
ONLY A WOODED SPOON OR SILICON SPATULA
This mixture is extremely hot, use caution when filling the jars.
