HoneySuckle All Year Round

[rebbetzin]

Apple Jelly with rosemary is a wonderful thing; both wth meat or on toast or scones. I think it looks perfect with a few of it's beautiful blue flowers suspended in it. My huge plants are in bloom right now.........!! :happy_flower


Hattie

Oh that does sound like a great jelly!! Of course my rosemary bloomed weeks ago now!! But, at the Moonsoons later in the summer it will bloom again.

I suppose a nice clear apple jelly can only be made with a commercial apple juice that is very clear already???

 

[Hattie the Hen]

"I suppose a nice clear apple jelly can only be made with a commercial apple juice that is very clear already???"

Hi rebbetzin,

I don't really understand this remark as I can make a clear jelly out of my own apples or better still wild crab apples I find in the surrounding countryside (they give the jelly a pink tinge & a wonderful taste). If I can beg a quince or two I add those & get a deeper pink colour & a heavenly taste.
When you drain the fruit you must NOT squeeze or push it through the fine muslin but just let alone to drip, otherwise it certainly will be cloudy.....!! The lft over fruit make good Apple "cheese" once it dries out!

I bought a 2 year old quince tree last autumn but this year it hasn't flowered -- too young I expect. They are supposed to be self fertile but I am lucky that my next door neighbour has a large tree.....!!


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[rebbetzin]

"I suppose a nice clear apple jelly can only be made with a commercial apple juice that is very clear already???"

Hi rebbetzin,

I don't really understand this remark as I can make a clear jelly out of my own apples or better still wild crab apples I find in the surrounding countryside (they give the jelly a pink tinge & a wonderful taste). If I can beg a quince or two I add those & get a deeper pink colour & a heavenly taste.
When you drain the fruit you must NOT squeeze or push it through the fine muslin but just let alone to drip, otherwise it certainly will be cloudy.....!! The lft over fruit make good Apple "cheese" once it dries out!

I bought a 2 year old quince tree last autumn but this year it hasn't flowered -- too young I expect. They are supposed to be self fertile but I am lucky that my next door neighbour has a large tree.....!!


:rose Hattie :rose

I have only made apple juice in my juicer... and with my Vitamix. with the juicer, it is not really clear, and with the Vitamix, it makes an apple puree. I have never tried to let the puree drain through a cheese cloth, that might work. I suppose if one had the proper equipment they could make a nice clear apple juice. What process do you use to make your apple juice come out clear?

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I peel & core my apples (save these as they give you the pectin - put them in a separate piece of muslin & secure tightly). Chop up rest of the apples & place both in a thick heavy saucepan with just a little water to help release the moisture in the apples, add the cores etc & cook gently till you have a pulp which tastes like apple puree. Place this all into a jelly bag or a large square of muslin hung from the 4 corners, hang over a large bowl. Leave overnight WITHOUT POKING AT IT OR SQEEZING. By morning you will have the bowl full of clear slightly tinted clear apple liquid. Discard the bag of skin & cores & pips; the apple pulp use for something else. Now measure the apple liquid ; for every pint of it you need a pound of sugar. Boil this up with the juice of a couple of lemons. This will give you a good old-fashioned apple jelly -- it is a substitute for adding bottled or powdered pectin & can be added to any soft fruit. Here in the UK we don't can our jams/jellies at all & they keep perfectly. I have a coolish kitchen so mine don't even go into the fridge even after opening. They get eaten too fast. I test my jams & jellies by putting a tin plate in the freezer for a few minutes then dropping a teaspoonful of the jelly mixture onto the cold plate after it has reached a rolling boil for a couple of minutes -- it should form a skin on the jelly if it is ready. Take off the heat immediately & pot up in preheated jars.

Sorry this sounds a bit long-winded but it is really easy to do.

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[rebbetzin]

Dearest Hattie,

Thank you for going to the trouble to type all that out for me!! Does the lemon juice keep the apple juice from going brown then?

I will have to make a muslin bag for draining fruit for jelly making.

I think I would use the plup to make an apple butter.

Thank you again for explaining the process for me.

 

[vfem]

Dearest Hattie,

Thank you for going to the trouble to type all that out for me!! Does the lemon juice keep the apple juice from going brown then?

I will have to make a muslin bag for draining fruit for jelly making.

I think I would use the plup to make an apple butter.

Thank you again for explaining the process for me.

I must thank you too Hattie! I have muslin bags I made as washable 'flower tea' bags I'm using to make my flower jellies. They are coming out fantastic so far... no cloudiness at all! This is great to know what I start doing the jellies out of our fruits. The pear and apple anyways.

Today I am doing a rose petal and honey jelly, along with a white clover jelly.

That lemon acid sure does change the color. The rose petal and honey was a 'brown' sitting in the water in the tea bag... then 2 tbsp of lemon juice and WHAM its PINK!!! Gorgeous!!!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Yes the lemons help to preserve the colour but they also help with the setting of the pectin. If you have any fruit which is low in pectin you can add lemons to help set it; raspberry jam being a prime example.

I wish I could find one of my old cookery books; it is a pre-World War II English translation of old French recipes for preserving fruit from before the time of commercially produced pectins. I really dislike them as they seem to leave an odd taste to me. That's why I tend to make a lot of apple jelly as a substitute when I have a glut of apples & use that to set my soft & delicate fruit. I urge you all to try adding a few crab-apples if you can find them. If you have enough space plant a tree as they are so beautiful at blossom time -- the same goes for quince. You will never regret it.....! :happy_flower

Glad I could help a bit & good luck with all your preserving! May all your jellies be clear & delicious.........row :bee


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi vfem,

I just found some info on using lilac flowers in cooking - it arrived in my email this morning. I have heard of Lilac Wine but only in the song of that name (that dates me......!! ). These pages might interest you to try them as a jelly with the flowers suspended in it.
Where I live I am surrounded by lilac bushes which are in bloom right now but they might be finished by now in your area.....??

http://www.herbcompanion.com/herbs-in-the-kitchen/lovely-lilac-edible-flower-recipes.aspx

Here are 2 recipes for the wine:

http://www.grapestomper.com/reclilac.html


:bee Hattie :bee

 

[vfem]

Thanks Hattie...

I went ahead and made the Rosemary jelly with a twig of rosemary suspended in the jelly. Sadly, all my blooms have ended... if only I did it a week earlier.

I also had some fuji apples in the fridge so I split my rosemary tea in 2 and made a rosemary and apple jelly as well. They both are fantastic to me... VERY strong taste and smell. I will for sure use the rosemary and apple on a roast duck, it was making me crave duck with an apple stuffing!!!

I've made something like 40 jars this week, so I need a break.

 

[vfem]

Here's the rosemary and the rosemary apple jellies cooling.

Here's all the others I have worked on all week.