'Tis the season to make jelly

[ardcarp]

orange jelly and tinned mandarin segments,

That takes me back too. Tinned mandarin oranges one of the early exotica around when we were kids. Don't think Jersey cream came to our household very often though.

[french frank]

Does anyone remember jelly as a big treat as a child...i.e. as a pudding in its own right. Soon after it became somewhat despised as ice-cream and fridges became more common.
The cheating way to make jelly was to buy those packs of joined-up wobbly cubes, pour on hot water and allow to cool and solidify. Are they still available? I'd secretly eat a cube or two on their own.

This is exactly what the Americans call (brand name?) Jello. Goes with trifle. Even British-born Mark needed me to explain what jelly is (he has been gone some time). I think it would be called jam in the US because they don't differentiate between 'jam' - which includes the whole fruit - and jelly which is made from the strained liquid.

I don't think I would eat jam with cheese - but jelly

[Pulcinella]

One of the dessert options on a Wednesday at the primary school where I help out is a dollop of (rather thin, it must be said) pale pink jelly and a ladleful of fruit cocktail. I opt for a yogurt instead.

[french frank]

One of the dessert options on a Wednesday at the primary school where I help out is a dollop of (rather thin, it must be said) pale pink jelly and a ladleful of fruit cocktail. I opt for a yogurt instead.

It looks as if the original meaning of the word 'jelly' is from 'gelatine' which is the setting agent for pudding jellies, made from animal stuff. The alternative meaning of a pure fruit jelly, using natural pectin as the setting agent, is a later meaning. Under the same heading the OED just says "Also, in later use, a preparation of the juice of fruit, or other vegetable substances, thickened into a similar consistence" (nb I would say consistency there: what is consistence?). It seems to be first used in Arbuthnot's 1732 Practical Rules of Diet where there is no suggestion of animal content (i.e. 'an article of food, consisting chiefly of gelatin, obtained from various animal tissues, as skin, tendons, bones, etc., by boiling and subsequent cooling...'). I would consider the fruit/plant jelly a 'condiment' (as mint jelly or redcurrant jelly), to be added in small quantities to savoury foods.

[Pulcinella]

It looks as if the original meaning of the word 'jelly' is from 'gelatine' which is the setting agent for pudding jellies, made from animal stuff. The alternative meaning of a pure fruit jelly, using natural pectin as the setting agent, is a later meaning. Under the same heading the OED just says "Also, in later use, a preparation of the juice of fruit, or other vegetable substances, thickened into a similar consistence" (nb I would say consistency there: what is consistence?). It seems to be first used in Arbuthnot's 1732 Practical Rules of Diet where there is no suggestion of animal content (i.e. 'an article of food, consisting chiefly of gelatin, obtained from various animal tissues, as skin, tendons, bones, etc., by boiling and subsequent cooling...'). I would consider the fruit/plant jelly a 'condiment' (as mint jelly or redcurrant jelly), to be added in small quantities to savoury foods.

In Canada (certainly at the time I lived there as a graduate student) grated carrot in lime jelly (Jello) was considered the height of sophistication as an accompaniment at a meal.

[french frank]

I messed up bigly at the first attempt . Forgot to lower the heat right down to a simmer when cooking the rosehips and apple, so too much of the liquid evaporated. As a consequence, when the mashed pulp was strained overnight it delivered only a large cupful of juice (though it was very concentrated juice ). I collected another kilo of hips this morning, stripped my crab apple tree of fruit but had to buy an extra green apple. I'm hoping the pectin in the sugar will be enough, along with the apple, to ensure a set. All simmering now.

I was rather surprised last year when the jelly set perfectly - must have been beginner's luck.

[french frank]

Autumn's come
A little early
This year ...

so the first lot of rosehips have already been gathered and converted into jelly - very good after lunch today with Langres and Mâcon-Villages. However, I read with chagrin the previous post (from me) indicating what I did wrong last time as I've clearly made the same mistake again. I hopefully sterilised 6 jars but only ended up filling two. But the resulting jelly was good .

Now off to gather hawthorn berries.

[gradus]

Rowan berries too if you can find some.

[french frank]

Rowan berries too if you can find some.

I found some (in my back yard)!

Unbelievable though it may seem, my first batch of (rowan) jelly was made yesterday, has set, and is in the fridge waiting with some trepidation on my part to be tasted. Rowan can be bitter and there was no possibility of waiting until the first frost, so I stripped the tree, washed and destemmed the berries and shoved them in the freezer for two days. Will that work? I've no idea. I added a bit more sugar than I would normally, and half way through the cooking, after adding some lemon juice, the liquid tasted more sharp than bitter

As luck would have it, I finished the last jar of crabapple jelly with my cheese today (no more next year as no crabapples on the tree) - so I may cautiously try a taste of the half jar of rowan tomorrow. Only enough for 3 and a half jars - but that may be more than enough if this is an échec total

[gradus]

A friend collected some cooking apples (Rev. Wilkes - a lovely but relatively rare cooker) that I planted on my now given-up allotment. Having stewed them for freezing I used the juice to make some Apple and Ginger jelly. Very simple, just add the juice of a lemon, ginger powder to taste and about 1lb of sugar to a pint of reduced juice, and about 10 minutes of rolling boil. Delicious and easy.
Don't know if this is true of other counties but this year our part of Suffolk has huge numbers of wild Myrobalan trees overflowing with their small yellow fruit and carpeting the ground beneath. They make a lovely sweet sharp plum jelly as do the red fruit form of the tree but oddly enough there don't seem to be as many of those this year.

[oddoneout]

I found some (in my back yard)!

Unbelievable though it may seem, my first batch of (rowan) jelly was made yesterday, has set, and is in the fridge waiting with some trepidation on my part to be tasted. Rowan can be bitter and there was no possibility of waiting until the first frost, so I stripped the tree, washed and destemmed the berries and shoved them in the freezer for two days. Will that work? I've no idea. I added a bit more sugar than I would normally, and half way through the cooking, after adding some lemon juice, the liquid tasted more sharp than bitter

As luck would have it, I finished the last jar of crabapple jelly with my cheese today (no more next year as no crabapples on the tree) - so I may cautiously try a taste of the half jar of rowan tomorrow. Only enough for 3 and a half jars - but that may be more than enough if this is an échec total

If the rowan does prove to be bitter it may be that putting it away to mature may help.The book of old recipes I have has one for bitter rowan jelly and another for rowan and crab apple jelly. Neither specifies needing the berries to have been frosted though.
I am hoping I may be able to make medlar jelly this year, and medlar butter with the resulting pulp. There is a tree on the site where I am a volunteer gardener, and for several years another volunteer used to pick the crop to make preserves, and then the museum service arranged instead for a commercial specialist (aka 'artisan') preserve maker to produce jelly for sale in the museum shop. As it hasn't sold very well, and the tree is very productive, it is likely the crop won't go in that direction this year; I have registered my interest. A tidy up of my pantry revealed a small jar of 2009 vintage so I think it is time for new stock...

[teamsaint]

A friend collected some cooking apples (Rev. Wilkes - a lovely but relatively rare cooker) that I planted on my now given-up allotment. Having stewed them for freezing I used the juice to make some Apple and Ginger jelly. Very simple, just add the juice of a lemon, ginger powder to taste and about 1lb of sugar to a pint of reduced juice, and about 10 minutes of rolling boil. Delicious and easy.
Don't know if this is true of other counties but this year our part of Suffolk has huge numbers of wild Myrobalan trees overflowing with their small yellow fruit and carpeting the ground beneath. They make a lovely sweet sharp plum jelly as do the red fruit form of the tree but oddly enough there don't seem to be as many of those this year.

I may give this a go. Loads of apples this year, but I always assumed from something , possibly misread, that they are a bit of a faff.

Already done bullace jam, and currently brewing a big batch of Damson ( bullace) mead. Also go Blackberry port , and elderberry wine on the go.

[gradus]

I made the apple jelly as I didn't want to waste the stewed apple juice and it was very easy to do as the juice has enough pectin (plus lemon juice) to get a set. With more acidic apples than Rev Wilkes boiling time may well be less.

[oddoneout]

I may give this a go. Loads of apples this year, but I always assumed from something , possibly misread, that they are a bit of a faff.

Already done bullace jam, and currently brewing a big batch of Damson ( bullace) mead. Also go Blackberry port , and elderberry wine on the go.

Do you mean that making jelly seems a bit of a faff? In some respects it is, as the fruit has to be cooked and then has to be left for the juice to strain out(pushing it through to try and speed things up makes for a cloudy jelly) which can take some time, and then the juice boiled up with sugar to 'jell'. It needs a jelly bag or equivalent and some way of suspending the bag over a receptacle. When I was still feeding a family I used to set the jelly bag up to drain overnight using an upturned stool to suspend the bag from, so the juice was ready to jelly the next day. It's a bit like making bread - not difficult in itself but does need a bit of planning.
I'm looking for my jelly bag(many years unused so has got buried!)and some jars this week as there are lots of crab apples dropping fruit nearby, and also I have a lot of homegrown blackberries so could use some of those to make pipless blackberry and apple preserve to perk up my porridge in winter.

[richardfinegold]

We just took a river cruise in the Columbia River basin, and during one day when there were no shore excursions they gave a 20 minute presentation on how to make huckleberry jelly. We never see huckleberries for sale in the Midwest but it was delicious so we are eager to try