FRUIT JELLIES – The Basics:

The principles in connection with jam-making apply equally to jelly-making. A fruit jelly should be bright in colour, clear, well set but not too stiff, and should have a good fruit flavour.

Crab apples, currants, gooseberries, loganberries and quinces make excellent jellies as they contain plenty of pectin and acid and have distinctive flavours. Cooking apples are also good but rather insipid alone. Wild berries, including blackberries, bilberries and elderberries are used and have an excellent flavour. The set of jellies from these fruits is often improved by mixing them with cooking apples.

Cherries, pears, strawberries, vegetable marrow and other fruits of poor setting quality are not suitable for jellies.

The fruit should be carefully washed and any unsound fruit removed. Large fruit such as plums and apples should be cut into small pieces before being cooked. To get the best results the fruit should be cooked in water, the quantity of water depending on the kind of fruit. Juicy fruits, such as loganberries, raspberries and blackberries, require only a very small quantity of water. Black currants and hard fruits need rather more, as the skins take longer to soften. As a general rule, hard fruits should be just covered with water in the preserving pan. Cooking should be done slowly and the fruit simmered until it is quite tender, which usually takes ¾ - 1 hour. To get a jelly it is necessary to break down the fruit so that the acid and pectin are dissolved in the water.

The proportion of sugar to add to the extract depends on the quantity of pectin present. Some idea of the jellying power of the juice can be formed from its consistency; the thicker and more sticky the juice, the more pectin is likely to contain.

When the fruit has been cooked sufficient, it should be strained. Straining bags are available on the website. The cooked pulp should be tipped gently into the bag and allowed to drain for about one hour until there is little liquid dripping from it.

Measure the juice into a preserving pan and bring to the boil before adding the sugar. The amount of sugar to be used depends on the pectin present. A good amount of pectin present requires llb. sugar for each pint of extract but a fair clot only requires ¾ lb. sugar. A set should be obtained after about 10 minutes boiling with the sugar, the juice, therefore must be reduced so that the weight of the juice, together with the weight of sugar to be added is about 8 oz. More than the final calculated weight of the jelly. (Weight of jelly = weight of sugar x 10 divided by 6. After the sugar has been added, boiling should be continued as rapidly as possible with stirring.

The juice and sugar must be boiled so that when cold a jelly is formed. Difficulty is sometimes experienced by beginners in knowing just how long to boil the sugar and extract. The same tests for setting point can be used as for jam.

As soon as the setting point has been reached, the pan should be taken from the cooker and the scum removed quickly. If difficulty is experienced with the last traces of scum, they can be removed by drawing a piece of clean kitchen paper with torn edges across the surface of the jelly. Another method is to strain the jelly through a piece of butter muslin (sold on the website), but this needs to be done very quickly before the jelly sets.

The jelly should be poured into warm jars at once. If left too long before it is poured out, the jelly will start setting in the pan and the consistency will be spoilt. While still hot, the surface of the jelly should be covered with a waxed paper circle. Small containers not exceeding llb size are recommended for jelly and covering etc. May be done when hot or cold but do not tilt the jars until the jelly has cooled.

The jelly should be kept in a cool, dry store as for jam.

Details of Importance in Making Jelly

1. The fruit should simmer quietly and should be thoroughly broken up before it is strained.
2. The fruit should be allowed to strain without squeezing if a clear jelly is required, but the juice should not be left more than 1 day before the jelly is finished.
3. To get a well-set jelly it is necessary to have pectin, acid and sugar present in the correct proportions.
4. Generally speaking, the sugar should not be added to the strained juice until the juice has been brought to boiling point, and if the juice seems rather thin it is advisable to further reduce before adding the sugar. With pale juices, such as apple and gooseberry, it is perhaps better, from the point of view of colour only, to add the sugar when the juice is cold. The longer heating of the juice and sugar together make the resulting jellies a deeper colour.
5. After the sugar has been added, the jelly should be boiled rapidly until the setting point is reached. Then it should be skimmed and poured into jars as quickly as possible.
6. Waxed circles should be placed on top of the jelly immediately the jars are filled and while the contents are still very hot.
7. The jars should not be tilted until the jelly has set.