Friday, July 11, 2025

Mint Jelly

 Ahhh! Fresh mint, the gift that keeps on giving everywhere in the garden.  It’s persistent… What better way to curb it than turning it into mint jelly.  Fresh mint jelly, perfect for gift giving or serving with your favourite lamb roast.  

The last time in tried buying it in a store, the only jar of “mint” jelly contained no mint, just “flavouring”,  Go figure.  Once you try this mint jelly, you will never want to be without it.  Thanks to Canadian Living for this recipe.


To make approximately 5 250 ml jars.

Ingredients

2 cups  lightly packed fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

1 pkg    Powdered fruit pectin

4 cups   Sugar


Directions

In a saucepan, combine mint with 3 1/2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil over high heat, gently mashing with a wooden spoon.  Remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 15 minutes.

Pour the mint mixture into a damp jelly bag suspended over a large glass measuring bowl.  Let drip without squeezing the bag, until the mint infusion measures 3 cups, about 2 hours.

In a large pot, stir together the mint infusions, vinegar and pectin.  Bring to boil over high heat, stirring often.  Gradually stir in the sugar, return to full rolling boil over high heat, stirring often.  Boil hard, stirring constantly for one minute,


Remove from heat.  Stir and skim off any foam for 5 minutes.  Fill hot 250 ml jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Wipe the jar rims clean, place clean lids on the jars and tighten.  Place in a steam canner for 10 minutes (when the dial reached the green line).  Remove the lid carefully, leave the jars in the uncovered canner for another five minutes.




Triple Fruit Jelly

 What to do with a couple of pounds of gorgeous red currents and sun ripened sour cherries, expertly grown by my neighbour, just steps from my house?  I decided to add strawberries and make a triple fruit jelly.  

This recipe is loosely based on a Four Fruit Jelly provided by French Master Preserver, Ginette Mathieu in her book “Conserving, Salting, Smoking, Pickling.

Makes 9 250 ml jars


Ingredients

1 3/4 lbs    red currants, stemmed and rinsed

1 3/4 lbs    Sour cherries, stemmed and rinsed

1 3/4 lbs    Strawberries, hulled and rinsed

1 tbsp        bottled lemon juice

7 cups        Sugar

57gr        Certo fruit crystals


Directions

Place all the fruit in the top compartment of the steamer juicer.  Steam for approximately one hour- this should provide you with about 7 cups of juice.  I don’t press on the fruit while they steam to keep the juice as clear as possible.  Alternatively, you could place all the fruit in a saucepan, add one cup of water and bring to a boil.  When the fruit has softened (about 5 minutes), remove from heat and place in a jelly bag to hang over a large bowl to collect the juices.

Place the fruit juice in a large preserving pan, along with the lemon juice and certo.  Bring to a boil and add the sugar gradually while stirring often.  When it reaches a full boil, begin using your instant read thermometer - the gel point is reached at 220 degrees.  Or, you can place a few small plates in the freezer and place a spoonful of the hot jelly on it to test for doneness- it should gel.  Keep testing until it is ready.

Ladle into 250 ml jars, clean the rims and top with the two piece lids.  Place the filled jars into the steam canner and steam for 10 minutes once the dial reached the “green” zone.  At the ten minute mark, remove the lid carefully to avoid burning yourself, turn off the heat and let the jars rest in the canner for five minutes.  Remove from the canner and let sit until the jars are cooled.





Friday, July 4, 2025

Strawberry Honey Butter

 Time to begin canning season 2025.  First up is an amazing strawberry honey butter from the Ball Canning book.  The ingredients are all local, within minutes of home: Strawberries are grown at Kiwan Farms and the honey is from the Henri Dignard Farm in Embrun, just a short distance from Ottawa. 

This butter is sweetened with 3/4 cup of honey and the same amount of sugar.  It’s perfect on biscuits or breads…

Makes approximately 3 250ml jars.


Ingredients

3 lbs         washed and hulled ripe strawberries

3/4 cup     Honey

3/4 cup     Sugar

1 tbsp       Lemon juice

2 tsp         Vanilla

1/4 tsp      Salt


Directions

Purée strawberries in the bowl of a food processor.  Combine strawberry purée with the remaining ingredients in a deep pot set over medium heat.  Bring the mixture to a boil stirring frequently to prevent scorching.  Lower the heat and simmer until the mixture is very thick, about 60 - 90 minutes, stirring frequently.  The strawberry butter is ready when it holds its shape on a spoon.

Ladle the hot butter into hot clean jars, leaving a 1/3 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles, wipe the jar rims and place the lid on the jars.  Place jars in the steam canner and process for 10 minutes.  At the end of the 10 minutes, carefully remove the lid on the pot, turn off the heat and let the jars sit in the canner for about 5-10 minutes.


** I made two batches instead of doubling this recipe.  If you double, you risk over cooking the strawberry purée.  


Enjoy!




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