This is the first time I’ve made fruit jelly and I’m delighted with the results. This recipe from Pam Corbin’s River Cottage Preserves handbook is simplicity itself – fruit, water and sugar, no magic ingredients. I didn’t have any specialist kit and rather than spend £20 on a strainer I improvised using items you’ll probably be able to find in your own house.
Make your jelly strainer using an upturned stool with a double thickness of muslin pegged to the sides. Scald the muslin before use and place a jug underneath to collect the juice.
Pour the stewed fruit into the muslin and leave to drip for several hours or overnight. Resist poking or squeezing the pulp or you’ll end up with cloudy jelly.
Measure the juice and return to a saucepan. When it is boiling add 75g of sugar per 100ml of juice and stir until dissolved. Boil rapidly for about 10 minutes or until the setting point is reached at 104.5 degrees celsius.
I didn’t have a thermometer so kept stirring it as it boiled and added several extra minutes (I tried the plate-in-the-fridge method for checking the setting point but didn’t know what jelly crinkling was supposed to look like and whether mine was!).
This recipe made 4 x 225g jars with a bit leftover. Not one to waste anything I filled half a jar and found it to be the perfect way to test the results the next day. It’s wonderful with roast lamb so I’m told or to enhance gravies and casseroles. I can’t vouch for that but I can recommend it with hot buttered spuds or in sandwiches with soft cheese.
If you liked this post please take a look at other recipes for cordials, chutneys, jams and jellies listed on my recipes page.
Enjoy having a browse . . .
The redcurrant jelly is so ruby clear.
It looks delightful, and all your work towards making it without gadgets of sorts. Impressive.
I didn’t get any redcurrants this year, because we didn’t get round to netting the plant, so the birds got to them before we did. But I am not mift, I feel like we had a good share of the blackcurrants this year. Hopefully, next year I will get to harvest some redcurrants, so I can have a go at making this gorgeous looking jelly.
my redcurrants were thanks to my generous neighbours Pat and Robin. One day I was admiring the few on mine and commenting on how fat the pigeons are at the allotment and the next I was looking at twigs stripped bare and broken. hey ho…
Not only do you rock in park world, you rock in jam world too!
hopefully rocking in maize world next week too!
[…] ready a scaled muslin cloth to turn the contents of the pan into and leave to drip overnight (see making redcurrant jelly for details of how to make a DIY jelly strainer and why you shouldn’t rush this […]