Cassandra
Garden Ornament
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2008
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Note to self:
BUY A BIGGER POT
:/
See where this is going?
I canned a few batches of jelly for the first time last summer. I always found it to be kind of a pain in the neck, but also somewhat addicting. I mean, it's so tedious... but SO AWESOME.
Brennan (my 4 yr old son) & I started picking blackberries over a week ago, I guess. At first, there were only a few ripe ones at a time, and well... he mostly ate them as we picked them. But several days ago, they got to where I could pick a cup or two at a time! I could have gotten more if it weren't for two things. 1) the stickers. Yes, those blackberries are thorny. 2) The spiders. GYAH. I would have ventured a LOT farther into the stickers if I hadn't been repeatedly chased out by the spiders.
But I won't bore you.
I posted earlier about making the juice. (What? Didn't I mention it?) I didn't measure the berries, I just figured I had enough (or I'd had enough) and put them on the stove. As luck would have it, I was only two ounces short of the 3.75 cups of juice the recipe called for. I added a bit of water.
Today, I got everything ready. The recipe said it would make 6-8 half pints of jelly. So I put FIVE pint jars in the dish washer so I would have PLENTY. (how do you like that bit of clever foreshadowing?) I got my big canner and wrestled it to the stove.
I cleaned out my trusty pot. The SAME POT, mind you, that I used to make plum jelly and blueberry jelly last year. Poured in the juice (exactly the right amount) and the pectin and a little butter.
You know the routine, stir stir stir. Then I got my rolling boil and added the sugar (quickly now!) and stir stir stir again. I was counting up to sixty and something went horribly wrong! The stuff started getting HUGE. I don't remember that happening last year. (37, 38, 39 stirstirstir, turn the burner down 46, 47 48) hissing sound as the juice dribbles onto the stove (52, 53) turn the burner OFF (stirstir) (hisshiss) I can't take it any more! I grab some dishtowels and move the pot to a trivet. I'm breathing fast and my eyes are HUGE. I totally forgot about skimming the foam off; luckily there was barely any because of the butter.
Whew.
The juice is still REALLY thin. (My plum & blueberry stuff got to "spin a thread" stage, but this definitely did not.) I started dishing it out into jars figuring I had ruined it. I fill up jar #4 and I'm thinking... geeze, that looks like a lot of juice still in there. Filled up my last jar and there was STILL a lot of juice in there. I poured the rest of it (about a cup and a half!) into a plastic container to put in the frige. I figure we can just eat it now.
I was afraid I had ruined it because I wasn't expecting it to be that thin right out of the pot. But John was there with me. And he took the jar funnel to rinse it off and said, "Hey, that turned it into jelly." The cold water jelled it right up. LOL John also assisted with lidding the jars. We don't have a jar lid magnet; we used a tool grabber to get the lids out of the warm water. He delighted in waving them around on the three foot long stick. I processed them in the canner for five minutes as directed. And now I'm waiting with fingers crossed for them to turn into jelly. (They are still really hot, but seem to be doing fine.)
Of course we tasted some--licked the spoon & the pot
. It's shockingly sweet. I've never had blackberry jelly before. But I wonder if I didn't accidentally put an extra cup of sugar. Brennan was "helping" me count (counting from one to four every time I put in a cup.) It tastes good, tho! And the plastic container has been in the refrigerator and is already like jelly.
Evidence below: 11.5 half pints of (hopefully) blackberry Jelly
Cassandra
BUY A BIGGER POT
:/
See where this is going?
I canned a few batches of jelly for the first time last summer. I always found it to be kind of a pain in the neck, but also somewhat addicting. I mean, it's so tedious... but SO AWESOME.
Brennan (my 4 yr old son) & I started picking blackberries over a week ago, I guess. At first, there were only a few ripe ones at a time, and well... he mostly ate them as we picked them. But several days ago, they got to where I could pick a cup or two at a time! I could have gotten more if it weren't for two things. 1) the stickers. Yes, those blackberries are thorny. 2) The spiders. GYAH. I would have ventured a LOT farther into the stickers if I hadn't been repeatedly chased out by the spiders.
But I won't bore you.
I posted earlier about making the juice. (What? Didn't I mention it?) I didn't measure the berries, I just figured I had enough (or I'd had enough) and put them on the stove. As luck would have it, I was only two ounces short of the 3.75 cups of juice the recipe called for. I added a bit of water.
Today, I got everything ready. The recipe said it would make 6-8 half pints of jelly. So I put FIVE pint jars in the dish washer so I would have PLENTY. (how do you like that bit of clever foreshadowing?) I got my big canner and wrestled it to the stove.
I cleaned out my trusty pot. The SAME POT, mind you, that I used to make plum jelly and blueberry jelly last year. Poured in the juice (exactly the right amount) and the pectin and a little butter.
You know the routine, stir stir stir. Then I got my rolling boil and added the sugar (quickly now!) and stir stir stir again. I was counting up to sixty and something went horribly wrong! The stuff started getting HUGE. I don't remember that happening last year. (37, 38, 39 stirstirstir, turn the burner down 46, 47 48) hissing sound as the juice dribbles onto the stove (52, 53) turn the burner OFF (stirstir) (hisshiss) I can't take it any more! I grab some dishtowels and move the pot to a trivet. I'm breathing fast and my eyes are HUGE. I totally forgot about skimming the foam off; luckily there was barely any because of the butter.
Whew.
The juice is still REALLY thin. (My plum & blueberry stuff got to "spin a thread" stage, but this definitely did not.) I started dishing it out into jars figuring I had ruined it. I fill up jar #4 and I'm thinking... geeze, that looks like a lot of juice still in there. Filled up my last jar and there was STILL a lot of juice in there. I poured the rest of it (about a cup and a half!) into a plastic container to put in the frige. I figure we can just eat it now.
I was afraid I had ruined it because I wasn't expecting it to be that thin right out of the pot. But John was there with me. And he took the jar funnel to rinse it off and said, "Hey, that turned it into jelly." The cold water jelled it right up. LOL John also assisted with lidding the jars. We don't have a jar lid magnet; we used a tool grabber to get the lids out of the warm water. He delighted in waving them around on the three foot long stick. I processed them in the canner for five minutes as directed. And now I'm waiting with fingers crossed for them to turn into jelly. (They are still really hot, but seem to be doing fine.)
Of course we tasted some--licked the spoon & the pot
. It's shockingly sweet. I've never had blackberry jelly before. But I wonder if I didn't accidentally put an extra cup of sugar. Brennan was "helping" me count (counting from one to four every time I put in a cup.) It tastes good, tho! And the plastic container has been in the refrigerator and is already like jelly.Evidence below: 11.5 half pints of (hopefully) blackberry Jelly
Cassandra
Yummy
