Welcome to Jonquiljunction: Muscadine Jelly....Sunny... 35*

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Muscadine Jelly....Sunny... 35*

A taste of summer in winter-Jelly from frozen Muscadine Grapes

6 cups juice from one gallon of Muscadines---Fresh picked or Frozen

4 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 well-rounded cup Dutch Jell or one box low-sugar recipe sure jell

**See notes***

Start by putting washed Muscadines in a large pot with enough water to barely cover. Bring to a boil turn down and simmer till skins start to pop 10-15 minutes, mash well with a potato masher and simmer another 10 minutes stirring and mashing occasionally during this time.

Set sieve in another large pot (I don’t use my jelly bag for this because the hulls are so tough and I’m not going to let in hang and drip slowly anyways) and carefully pour juice and hulls/pulp into sieve, mash down and set a plate and something heavy on top of the sieve , let sit about half an hour mash any remaining juice out with a spoon and discard hulls/pulp.

I always do this the night before, refrigerate the juice, then I’m ready for the jelly making in the morning.

Measure out 6 cups of juice (it’s OK to add a little water if you need to, to bring up to 6 cups)

put in a large pot over medium heat

mix together 1/4 cup of sugar and rounded 1/3 cup of Dutch jell, sprinkle over juice and stir well.

bring to a boil, add remaining sugar all at once and stir till dissolved , bring back to a gentle boil and cook 15 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile get your jars hot along with lids and bands, you need 7 half-pint jelly jars.

When 15 minutes is up check for jell, I do this with a cold plate (that’s been set in the freezer) drop a dab of hot jelly on it, then run your finger through it, if it runs back together it needs to cook longer, if it stays parted it’s ready, check every minute at this point till it’s ready. (see picture below)

Fill jars, wipe rims and add rings and bands, set immediately into canner , when all your jars are in canner bring water to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Carefully remove from canner and let cool completely, check for seal.

**NOTES: if you’ve never canned before, jelly is a really good place to start. But please read how from a reliable source like Ball Blue book first, As this is written by and for someone who’s been doing it for years and is comfortable with it.

**NOTES: Dutch Jell is a bulk item you can find at most Health food stores and on line, it is much cheaper than Sure Jell and I find it isn’t as picky about using a precise amount of sugar as the boxed stuff.