When I decided to go local and package-free, one of the things I had to do was learn to make sweets, since I have the sweet tooth to end all sweet tooths (sweet teeth?).
This has been a less-than-successful effort. While I’m pretty good with cookies, my quick breads never cook all the way through and I’ve thrown away more pies than I’ve eaten.
I also canNOT get jelly to set. Here’s the whole sad tale (but don’t worry, it has a happy ending.)
Cucumber jelly- fail
I’ve made lots of jam and preserves, but what started me on the whole jelly thing was this irresistible recipe from Dabblings and Whimsey, (how could I resist a blog with “dabbling” in the name, right?) which I found via that preservation goddess Punk Domestics. I mean, whoa, something new to do with cucumbers, amirite?! Problem: didn’t set, ugly color, because I used evaporated instead of crystal sugar. Probably not enough sugar.
Lemonade from lemons: Sage Advice cocktail
1 oz. cucumber simple syrup
1-2 oz. sage-infused vodka
3-4 oz. sparkling lemonade
garnish with lemon slice, cucumber slice and sage sprig
serve over ice
Apple jelly-fail
Once again, too little sugar?
Lemonade from lemons: Apple leek potato salad with Apple mayonnaise
1/4 cup apple syrup
1/2 cup homemade mayonnaise
1/4 to 1/2 of a whole nutmeg, grated
ground white pepper to taste
Peach jelly-fail (ish)
Using the recipe from the pectin box. This one set, but I apparently boiled it too long, and it got hard.
Lemonade from lemons: Chocolate-covered peach jellies
Reheat, in a double-bottomed pot over very low heat, until completely melted. Pour into glass pyrex baking dish, about 1/2 inch depth. Allow to set again, then cut into 1/2 squares. (Don’t make them any bigger, these are very very rich.) I used those chocolate melting dots that you can buy in the produce section, and coated each square in chocolate. Harden on a sheet of wax paper. My friend’s husband wants to marry me because of these.
Apple jelly-fail redux
Again, recipe from the pectin box. I put the *@&^$()$%# pectin in after the sugar. (Repeat after me: pectin first, pectin first, pectin first).
Lemonade from lemons: Spiced cider liqueur
2/3 bottle of middle-shelf vodka
1 cup apple syrup
1 cinnamon stick, 1/2 teaspoon cloves, 1/4 nutmeg, crushed, 1/4 teaspoon whole allspice, zest of 1/4 orange
Mix ingredients together in the vodka bottle. Store in cool dark place for 2-4 weeks. (Another great Christmas gift, decanted into decorative bottles.)
Cucumber jelly candies dipped in white chocolate TADA!
I finally ended up with the item I set out to make. I didn’t give up on the cucumber jelly, and after the peach jelly save, it occurred to me that a cucumber jelly candy in white chocolate would be amazing. And yes, it’s true. I used D&W’s recipe again, but doubled the pectin and kept it at a boil for more than 30 minutes, until it “sat” on a spoon. Several people now getting these for Christmas.
Having finally ended up with what I started out to make, I’m feeling ambitious. Next up–green tea jelly! What do you think?
Yummy & very pretty! And thanks for the mayo link! I was just thinking about attempting that yesterday!
Mayo is one of those things that, once you’ve made it, you can’t believe you ever bought it in a store. Once you have a feel for it, it’s absurdly easy, and the taste is indescribably better.
What do I think? I think you have me worried because i just pulled up a recipe for turkish delight! But seriously, I think green tea jelly sounds interesting. I have made green tea shortbread before, with matcha.
And I think jelly can be tempermental but I like what you did with the failed attempts.
Wow. I’m really impressed and intrigued by the cucumber jellies with white chocolate. I’m eager to hear about your green tea jelly experiment…
I’ve had the same problem in the past. It’s a pain but you can take it all out if the jars, add more pectin and reboil if you have to. I swear it only happens on high humidity days.
Xan you don’t even need pectin to get your jelly to come out. If you visit Tigress in a jam’s blog she has some great instructions on telling when you hit gel set, the point at which your jelly will be done. Many fruits have natural pectin (like apples) so it’s simply a matter of evaporating off enough liquid to get the right pectin/liquid ratio. I wrote an article a few winters ago explaining the chemistry behind it here: http://www.canningacrossamerica.com/resources/weather-and-how-it-affects-hitting-the-gel-stage/
Haha– I have read that article! But thanks. The thing with jelly, though, is it’s made with just the juice–will juice still have enough natural pectin in it? I’ve done the whole thing with the candy thermometer and got these things up temp, and I’ve done lots a jams (which include the meat and not just juice) and these always set up very nicely. (Cucumber has no natural pectin, I believe, so it requires the boost.)
It does work with just the juice but you have to use high pectin apples or whatever it is. Green apples in July are full of pectin, crabapples and granny smith are full of pectin. So I make a lot of apple pectin in the summer when I don’t have other things to can and then use that as I need it. I use it to thicken things like raspberry freezer jam because I hate cooked berries. It’s nice to use to make a thick jelly like sauce to put on unbaked berry tarts or it’s a nice base for a glaze for meats in the winter or to make cranberry jelly with whole cranberries so you don’t have to cook the snot out of them to get it thick. Your saves are all brilliant though! Seriously, cucumber candy? Brilliance.
Crabapple jelly is also on the must-try list, cool. Homemade pectin is one of those things I had actually researched, so I knew about the unripe apple thing; the trick is finding unripe apples. Strangely (not) no one sells them. 🙂 But I am planning some springtime foraging for crab apples!
I came _this_ close to making crabapples this year, but I figured with all the jams I have that I could skip it this time around! We have to eat up the umpteen jars we already have first.
What a process. Your end result sure looks tasty. I used to pick the crab apples and Gram used to make the jelly. It is a great memory and the jelly was great too.
Xan don’t wait! Go buy yourself some granny smiths right after Christmas. Make a batch of apple jelly and then throw a rosemary sprig in the middle of the jar. Wait a month to eat it, then get some brie of other gooey goodness and put it on homemade crackers.
Of all the things I make or used to make but stopped to cut back our sugar consumption the rosemary apple jelly was the one that got ooed and awed the most when given as hostess gifts or door prizes. I used to think apple jelly was meh but now that I add a bit of cinnamon, or rosemary, or rose petals, or lavender it becomes something even more special because you can’t buy stuff like that.
I have two crabapple trees (dolgo and everest) so that I have crabapples from September to January when the green apples are done. In this way I can nearly always whip up a batch of something crazy when I actually have time to can because the glut of harvest and canning is over. Crabapple trees are spectacularly gorgeous and pest and disease free, plus the dolgo is good enough to eat out of hand during the brief two weeks they are ripe. You can also pickle them because they don’t really have seeds and the skin is such a gorgeous shade of red that it tinges the jelly pink instead of brown.
Apple jelly is the little black dress of my pantry.
Other winter canning projects: citrus marmalade and curds, carmelized onion jam (with or w/o bacon), pickled garlic, pickled beets or carrots and pumpkin or apple butter (or fruit leather) with things starting to go south in storage. You cannot safely can the pumpkin butter but you can pickle the rinds just like watermelon pickles and can those. Or I put my fruit leather into jars rolled up and tied with raffia. These are all fabulous winter hostess gifts when you start being miserly with your own decreasing stash of apricot or rhubarb or tart cherry or black currant preserves…
What a curious idea to cover the cucumber jellies in white chocolate! FYI I also have issues getting jelly to set properly. I had to make two batches of that cucumber jelly to get it to set properly and it was a slow set. Some jars took a full 2 weeks to set up right. I’m happy to hear that someone tried my recipe though, that’s always a special feeling 🙂