Mulled port wine jelly

Yield: 1 Servings

Measure Ingredient
\N 1 Unblemished medium size --
\N 8 Whole cloves
\N 1 Approx 2 1/2\" cinnamon --
\N 6 Whole allspice -- - slightly

: eating orange

: stick; broken

: bruised

1½ c -- Boiling water

1 ¾ oz Box powdered regular

: pectin*

2 ½ c Good-quality red port** 4 ½ c Sugar

*Do not use the kind intended for low-sugar preserving.

**Or substitute Madeira, Marsala or a full-flavored red table wine.

(I used port.) This is a two-stage recipe. One day (or at least several hours) before you'll make the jelly, rinse the orange and stick the cloves into it. Wrap the orange loosely in aluminum foil and bake it, set directly on the shelf, in a 350 F. oven for 1 hour.

Open the wrapping and check the orange; if it is very soft and the juices have begun to caramelize inside the foil wrapping, it is ready; otherwise continue to bake it until it is soft and the juices in the wrapping are turning a rich brown.

Unwrap the orange and drop it into a deep bowl. Add the cinnamon and allspice and mash everything together. Pour in the boiling water, cover the bowl and let it stand overnight.

Pour the mixture into a sieve set over a bowl and press the solids to strain off as much liquid as possible. Discard pulp and strain the liquid again, this time lining the sieve with cheesecloth. Measure the liquid; if you don't have 1 ½ cups, add water.

Pour the liquid into a preserving pan. Add pectin and stir to eliminate lumps. Set the pan over medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil it hard (at a boil that can't be stirred down) for exactly 1 minute. At once add the wine and sugar. Lower the heat and stir the mixture until the sugar has dissolved, 2 or 3 minutes; it should not simmer, much less boil.

Remove from heat.

Skim off any foam and ladle the jelly into hot, sterilized jelly glasses or straight-sided half-pint canning jars, leaving ½" of headspace in the glasses or ⅛" in the jars. Seal the jelly in glasses with melted paraffin; seal canning jars with sterilized canning lids according to manufacturer's directions. Cool, label and store the jars.

If the jelly will be used within a few months, it may be refrigerated unsealed but covered. Keeps, sealed, for a year in a cool pantry.

Yield: About 6 cups.

Witty writes: "Flavored with an orange that has been stuck with cloves and roasted, plus a touch of whole cinnamon and allspice, this is a rich, deep, dark-flavored wine jelly, superb as a relish with venison, other game, poultry, or cold meat.

"For making this, a premium-quality California red port is fine; you do not need to invest in an imported bottle. Mulled wine jelly is also very good when made with a full-bodied red wine - Rhone, Burgundy, Zinfandel, whatever you like the most." From _Fancy Pantry_ by Helen Witty. New York: Workman Publishing Company, Inc., 1986.

ISBN 0-89480-037-X. Pp. 136-37. Electronic form Recipe By :

From: Kmeade@... (The Me

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