Apple Jelly - Part 2 - Making Jelly

It’s very important that you measure the juice you put back into a saucepan. You will have to add 3/4 of sugar for every 1 cup of apple juice later. 

One you measure the apple juice into a saucepan/pot, bring the juice to a boil and cook rapidly for 5 minutes. Taste the juice and if the flavour is not very tart, add lemon juice. Then measure 3/4 cup of sugar for every 1 cup of juice measured add to the boiling concentrated juice and continue boiling rapidly until 2 drops run together to form a sheet when dropped from the edge of a metal spoon. 

This is called a “jelly test”. I have yet to master the concept of this test. It seems to easy and yet, it never seems to work.. not that my jelly doesn’t jelly, its just I’ve never seen this “2 drops run together to form a sheet” work. My secret is to put a metal spoon into the freezer and periodically take it out and dip it into the boiling stuff and if the jelly coats the spoon in a nice sheet.. and is “jelly-like”, I then go ahead and jar it.

If your mixture passes the “jelly test”, skim the jelly (get rid of the bubbles) and pour into your hot, sterilized jars, put the lids on and allow to cool. Make sure that all the lids have popped.. (is that the right word? hmm.. ok make sure all the lids have been sucked down). Any lids that haven’t “popped”, put into the fridge immediately and enjoy right away. The other jars can be put into a pantry and given away as Christmas gifts or hostess gifts. Or eat them. 

In case your have no idea what to do with the apple jelly, here are a couple of ideas:

• spread on toast/crackers
• put on warm Brie.. Try this ASAP.
• If you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Please leave a comment.

An important note: The “wealthy” apples that I used above created perfect, beautiful juice for jelly. The concentrated juice that I got was so thick it was almost a jelly itself. There was so much pectin in this juice that it literally took minutes to become jelly. I will definitely use these apples again. I ended up with 5 extra apples. I plan to make apple cinnamon muffins tomorrow to bring to work with me. Yes, the recipe will follow. :)