Hi -

Today I made apple jelly from the Blue Ball book.
The recipe calls for making apple juice, and then to that
adding sugar and lemon juice. I made the mistake of putting
the sugar and lemon juice in with the apples while making the
juice. So after filtering the juice out of the apple/sugar/
lemon mixture, I added another cup of sugar and the juice from
another one and a half lemons, and then proceeded with the
recipe. The entire batch made 8 4oz. jars.

What do you think? If you don't think it'll be safe, do you
have any ideas for using up 4 cups of apple jelly this week?

Another question...a few weeks ago I made pear jelly. I
liked it, but if I make it again I'd like to add pear liqueur
and cinnamon to it. Would the alcohol cause any problems?

And what if I reduce the juice to concentrate the flavor?
Can I still just follow the recipe as long as I use the same
proportions of reduced juice, sugar and lemon?
Thanks!

Jeneen

Hello Jeneen,

Wow! Lots of questions. OK, first. No one's going to die from your
apple jelly. Jellies and jams are as low-risk as it gets in the home
food preserving world. You're using high-acid fruit and then loading
it up with sugar. Botulism doesn't like acid and it doesn't like sugar
because the sugar absorbs water. The worst-case would be mold and that
would be easily detectable when you opened the jar. That jar, of
course, you would just discard. But even mold is very rare with a
full-sugar product.

Question #2 - if you want to add liqueur and cinnamon to your pear
jelly, go right ahead. I wouldn't overdo it, but that's my preference.
Add the liqueur at the end before bottling up. The only "problem" is
if you imbibe the rest of the bottle while canning. For the cinnamon,
I'd tend to use stick cinnamon, add during the cooking process and then
remove, though a piece of cinnamon stick suspended in a jar of jelly
can be a very pretty sight. I wouldn't recommend ground cinnamon just
because it defeats the purpose of jelly, which is clarity. I'm not
sure it would look so terrific if you muddy it up with ground spices.

Question #3 - What if you reduce the juice to concentrate the flavor?
Also fine. Reducing is exactly what you do anyway when you cook the
mixture after the sugar and lemon are added. The only way it's going
to jell is to get the water out whether early or late. In this case,
if the juice is concentrated, I would assume the jelly would set more
quickly once the sugar and lemon are added. Be careful or you might
end up with rubber.

I hope this helps. There is a certain element of chance in any
traditional preserving, but apples are good to work with because
they're high-pectin and reliable setters.

Carol

Hello Jeneen,

Wow! Lots of questions. OK, first. No one's going to die from your
apple jelly. Jellies and jams are as low-risk as it gets in the home
food preserving world. You're using high-acid fruit and then loading
it up with sugar. Botulism doesn't like acid and it doesn't like sugar
because the sugar absorbs water. The worst-case would be mold and that
would be easily detectable when you opened the jar. That jar, of
course, you would just discard. But even mold is very rare with a
full-sugar product.

Question #2 - if you want to add liqueur and cinnamon to your pear
jelly, go right ahead. I wouldn't overdo it, but that's my preference.
Add the liqueur at the end before bottling up. The only "problem" is
if you imbibe the rest of the bottle while canning. For the cinnamon,
I'd tend to use stick cinnamon, add during the cooking process and then
remove, though a piece of cinnamon stick suspended in a jar of jelly
can be a very pretty sight. I wouldn't recommend ground cinnamon just
because it defeats the purpose of jelly, which is clarity. I'm not
sure it would look so terrific if you muddy it up with ground spices.

Question #3 - What if you reduce the juice to concentrate the flavor?
Also fine. Reducing is exactly what you do anyway when you cook the
mixture after the sugar and lemon are added. The only way it's going
to jell is to get the water out whether early or late. In this case,
if the juice is concentrated, I would assume the jelly would set more
quickly once the sugar and lemon are added. Be careful or you might
end up with rubber.

I hope this helps. There is a certain element of chance in any
traditional preserving, but apples are good to work with because
they're high-pectin and reliable setters.

Carol

Carolinorygun wrote:
> Hello Jeneen,
>
> Wow! Lots of questions. OK, first. No one's going to die from your
> apple jelly. Jellies and jams are as low-risk as it gets in the home
> food preserving world. You're using high-acid fruit and then loading
> it up with sugar. Botulism doesn't like acid and it doesn't like sugar
> because the sugar absorbs water. The worst-case would be mold and that
> would be easily detectable when you opened the jar. That jar, of
> course, you would just discard. But even mold is very rare with a
> full-sugar product.
>
> Question #2 - if you want to add liqueur and cinnamon to your pear
> jelly, go right ahead. I wouldn't overdo it, but that's my preference.
> Add the liqueur at the end before bottling up. The only "problem" is
> if you imbibe the rest of the bottle while canning. For the cinnamon,
> I'd tend to use stick cinnamon, add during the cooking process and then
> remove, though a piece of cinnamon stick suspended in a jar of jelly
> can be a very pretty sight. I wouldn't recommend ground cinnamon just
> because it defeats the purpose of jelly, which is clarity. I'm not
> sure it would look so terrific if you muddy it up with ground spices.
>
> Question #3 - What if you reduce the juice to concentrate the flavor?
> Also fine. Reducing is exactly what you do anyway when you cook the
> mixture after the sugar and lemon are added. The only way it's going
> to jell is to get the water out whether early or late. In this case,
> if the juice is concentrated, I would assume the jelly would set more
> quickly once the sugar and lemon are added. Be careful or you might
> end up with rubber.
>
> I hope this helps. There is a certain element of chance in any
> traditional preserving, but apples are good to work with because
> they're high-pectin and reliable setters.
>
> Carol
>
Hi Carol,
Do you think that you can adjust your program so that you only post one
message . I always get 2 sent at the exact same time and with the same
content.
Ellen

Wow...lots of answers, thanks! The apple jelly is way too sweet,
so I'll probably start over anyway. It tastes like jelled hummingbird
food! This time I'll concentrate the juice first, and possibly
add some liqueur (and probably imbibe a little, too). I need to get
some pH strips so I don't have to wonder about the acid level.

Jeneen

On Sun, 15 Oct 2006, Carolinorygun wrote:

> Hello Jeneen,
>
> Wow! Lots of questions. OK, first. No one's going to die from your
> apple jelly. Jellies and jams are as low-risk as it gets in the home
> food preserving world. You're using high-acid fruit and then loading
> it up with sugar. Botulism doesn't like acid and it doesn't like sugar
> because the sugar absorbs water. The worst-case would be mold and that
> would be easily detectable when you opened the jar. That jar, of
> course, you would just discard. But even mold is very rare with a
> full-sugar product.
>
> Question #2 - if you want to add liqueur and cinnamon to your pear
> jelly, go right ahead. I wouldn't overdo it, but that's my preference.
> Add the liqueur at the end before bottling up. The only "problem" is
> if you imbibe the rest of the bottle while canning. For the cinnamon,
> I'd tend to use stick cinnamon, add during the cooking process and then
> remove, though a piece of cinnamon stick suspended in a jar of jelly
> can be a very pretty sight. I wouldn't recommend ground cinnamon just
> because it defeats the purpose of jelly, which is clarity. I'm not
> sure it would look so terrific if you muddy it up with ground spices.
>
> Question #3 - What if you reduce the juice to concentrate the flavor?
> Also fine. Reducing is exactly what you do anyway when you cook the
> mixture after the sugar and lemon are added. The only way it's going
> to jell is to get the water out whether early or late. In this case,
> if the juice is concentrated, I would assume the jelly would set more
> quickly once the sugar and lemon are added. Be careful or you might
> end up with rubber.
>
> I hope this helps. There is a certain element of chance in any
> traditional preserving, but apples are good to work with because
> they're high-pectin and reliable setters.
>
> Carol
>
>