@Redmountainspa
Continued from yesterday's post by Nora Chetterbock, Spa & Wellness AssistantJust how do I make juice suitable for jelly and how do I handle it after it has become juice? I had no clue so I turned to my favorite resource: dear friend, Iras. In the course of the conversation, she said something about boiling and sealing and storing, and I asked when she was coming next and if I was successful at storing the juice would she help me make jelly. She, of course, replied, “Yes.” What else could she say?
I then asked, “What do I do with the pulp?” She responded, jokingly, or maybe she wasn’t joking, “Feed it to the hogs.” I remember asking, “I thought you used it to make jam?” because I was thinking, "I don’t have any hogs and there aren’t any close by and that’s a whole lot of pulp and I’ve just used my treasure to get it so I better turn to my next favorite resource: the internet."
As I was scrolling through fruit juice categories, I discovered other topics: Jam and Jellies – imagine that! Therein, I learned that not only could I make jelly, I could make refrigerator jam using my pulp and not have to worry about finding a hog farm.
Because Lou wasn’t there to see me use my “thing” in action, I took pictures of the process for him. Does he understand it any better? I’ll never know as his response, when looking at the pictures, “h-m-m-m," but he did marvel at the beautiful new color of the wood pestle.
Because I’m not a homemaker, let alone jelly/jam maker, my cupboards were bare so off to the store and after a very expensive excursion, I came home armed with sugar, pectin and, of course, jars. That was a sticker shock. But I needed all of them to accomplish my goal; therefore, I shopped.
Amazing, in every box of pectin there are instructions for making jelly, jam and refrigerator jelly! Imagine that. Who knew?! No doubt every homemaker knew that, but, remember, I’m not a homemaker...or jelly maker.
After reading the instructions, the pulp became refrigerator jam, not lunch for the hogs. However, as of this writing, I’m still waiting for it to set-up – if it doesn’t, back to the mixing bowl. Refrigerator jam was my intent, not thick pulpy syrup.
Wanting to be totally organized for the jelly process, I did as the instructions said, “Add pectin...” Read on to “Add all of sugar and...” Well, because of the way it printed out, or my inability to read it properly, which was probably the case, I put those two together and added the pectin to the sugar, stirring it in rather nicely. That was my attempt at, not only organization, but also preparedness. After boiling my juice, I poured in my sugar. Then I read the instructions again - this time the right way. My heart sank and my mouth laughed. So much for “jelly.” I knew at that moment, I was making the prettiest red plum syrup.
Hope against hope, I still filled my little jars and covered them with lids that had been boiled for ten minutes as instructed. By the way, “boiled” lids? Hot jars? Who came up with this and why? No matter, I obliged every instruction I read.
Then the next step: getting what I hoped would become jelly - hot, boiled and beautiful, I might add - red stuff from the pot into the jars. How do I do that without another puddle of red stuff for the day? I learned really fast you honestly don’t have to be a homemaker to do that. Logic took over and I used a hand-me-down measuring cup from mom. More childhood memories; but try as hard as I could my memory bank doesn’t have a picture of her filling the jars.
Once the jars were filled and the hot, boiled lids on top, I prayed to the jelly gods to please let it set even though I didn’t mix it right and boiled it twice. Instructions I’ve read said, “Give it 48 hours and if it hasn’t set by then, proceed with the “fix.” I have a few more hours to go but as of right now, I have the prettiest ice cream/pancake syrup you ever did see!
I always wondered what homemakers meant when they talked about the sweet sounds of the lids popping after they canned. I now know what they meant...except I counted mine, and after each pop would wait for the next until the last one popped. It may not have been very melodic, but it was a fun sound; I, at the age of 62, got to hear what others have heard for years: popping lids.
The second batch of jelly was much easier, especially when you follow the directions by not mixing the two sentences together. When it came to the “rolling” boil, I set the timer for one minute as instructed then prayed it wouldn’t boil over and whisked like crazy to prevent it. Just as ten minutes as a child seemed an eternity, one minute stirring the bejeezes out of that beautiful red plum stuff when it’s in its monster “rolling” boil seemed like an eternity. I just knew that monster was going to boil over. Thankfully, the “boil over” monster didn’t happen and when the sanitized hot jars were filled and covered with the hot boiled lids, I took delight once again in hearing them pop while thinking, “Does this mean I’m now a homemaker?”
With a batch of refrigerator jam not setting and a batch of “IDidn’tReadTheInstructionsProperly” jelly not setting, it was back to the internet: "What to do when your jelly or jam doesn’t set?" Just as I thought...loads of resolutions. Those resolutions involved more pectin.
Lou reminded me I had enough juice left to make another batch of jelly “tomorrow.”
Back to the store for more pectin – lo and behold, in the instructions in the pectin is “What to do if your jam or jelly doesn’t set.” Imagine that! Now any real homemaker would know to “read on.” Did I tell you I have decided I’m still not a homemaker? That was the cincher!
In order to make “tomorrow’s” jelly, I had to have more jars. In the future, I will pay way more attention at garage sales when I see jelly jars,I now have a greater appreciation for what they represent; store bought jams and jellies just make a whole lot of sense. If your future plans include making jelly and jam, either buy the jars at garage sales or thrift stores the way real homemakers do or invest in jar manufacture companies!
I must say “tomorrow’s” jelly came out perfect and is truly red, beautiful plum jelly.
In a day or so, I’ll transfer some of my unset jelly to a pot and try it once again and the thin set jam will be given a second chance, and if that doesn’t work, a whole lot of somebodies will be getting plum syrup. I’ve already decided there are duo syrup and jelly gift sets in our holiday plans.
For the successful batches, I may call them “Berber Plum Jam” or "Berber Plum Jelly” because there was a whole lot of Dr. Bertice Berry reminiscing going on in the process. Her thoughts, laughter and words of wisdom were ever present.
Dr. Berry: I am grateful. I have an end product my hubby is raving about. He laughed with me when I told him I flooded his patio with red, beautiful plum juice. My three day adventure brought out many wonderful childhood memories. My garage sale treasure worked. I saved my pulp from the hogs. I laughed my way through a three-day ordeal that I would have normally, I think, been frustrated with. I now have the ability to officially declare: I am not a “homemaker.” I can mark "jelly" and "jam" off my life plan of things to do. Most importantly - you for making me look at life in a whole new way. Now if you would just tell me how to clean my “storage filter” so I can put this Berber Jam and Jelly away.
January 2010: 
February 2010: 
April 2010: 
