About jams, jellies and preserves -2

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Making juice for jelly: Wash and drain fruit. Prick or crush the fruit. Add water if fruit is not juicy enough eg. apples. Add enough to the kettle that you can see it through the fruit but the fruit is not floating. Cook uncovered until the fruit is soft and loosing its color. Have ready a jelly bag [several layers of cheese cloth] . Wet it, wring it out and line a strainer with it. Let the juice drip through without squeezing it as this muddies and flavors the jelly.

This juice can be kept up to 6 months before proceeding by freezing or canning it.

Making jelly: Measure the strained juice and put it in an enamel or stainless steel pan. Simmer 5 min. Skim off froth. Measure and warm sugar in a pan in the oven and add it. Stir until dissolved. Cook at a gentle simmer until the point of jelling. To test, place a small amount of jelly on a spoon, cool it slightly and let it drop back into the pot from the side of the spoon. As the syrup thickens, 2 large drops will form along the edge of the spoon. when these two drops run together and fall as a single drop the "sheeting" stage has been reached- 220 to 222 deg F and the jelly will be firm when cooled. It can take anywhere from 10 to 30 min for jelly to reach this stage depending on the fruit and the amount of sugar. Take the jars from the sterilizing bath and invert on a cake cooler. They should be hot but dry when filled. Fill to ¼" from the top. Cover with melted paraffin ⅛" deep. Submitted By JIM WELLER On 11-26-95

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