With the method and quantities listed below i produced about 3 litres of the beautiful jelly.
Juice:
- 4 litres of grapes (no stems)
- 450ml of water
- Sensible to squash the fruit with the potato masher – i did not do it at the beginning, had to do it while immersed in hot liquid – silly
- Place the fruit with prepared water in a heavy pot, bring to boil, simmer for 10-15 minutes – i had to do it for 20 minutes because i waited for the fruit to collapse..
- Prepare the jelly sieve (as on the picture ) or a colander with the cheese cloth folded 3-4 times. and the vessel to catch the juice.
- Pour the mixture into the sieve – you may have to do it in stages, all may not fit at once
- Let the juice drip. avoid squashing the fruit if you want to have a transparent (clear?) jelly. Allow the time to drip all it is going to give. I received almost 1.5 litre.
Jelly:
- 1.5 litre juice
- 1.5 kg sugar
- 80 ml lemon juice
- 115 g pectin (2 packages of 57g each)
Make sure you have a pot and the burner of adequate size and strength. The process requires a fast supply of heat and the ability to really rapidly boil for a while. I found that with my electric cooker, if i have more that 2 litres of stuff to heat rapidly, i will rather bother with splitting it into two separate processes than risk prolonged and not rapid boil.. Naturally, if you have a gas burner, the chances are that much higher.
- Prepare some sterilized jars etc.
- Juices and pectin into a heavy pot, bring to boil on a hot burner
- When boiling add the sugar, stir until all sugar dissolved and the temperature is at the boiling point again.
- Boil intensely for a minute or so
- Take off the heat.
- Fill the jars, close, set aside to cool of and seal on their own.
- Some people sterilize in the steam bath (5 min). I did not do it last year, nor this year. Maybe i will be lucky again?
- Jelly may take time (up to 24 hrs?) to set, while it cools down. Do not panic!
- Place in a cool, dry, place for storage.
