Jelly anyone?

[ctom]

Last fall during our last trip to the cabin we found a mess of High Bush Cranberry bushes loaded with fruit, so we took time to pick the berries and extract the juice. The juice got frozen. Yesterday I took the container of frozen juice out to thaw and made High Bush Cranberry jelly. Here's the verdict.



The jar on the far left wasn't quite full enough to seal so it'll go in the fridge for use right away.

High Bush Cranberries are a world apart from those that get eaten during the holidays. These are smaller berries with a big black pit instead of tiny sand-grain-like seeds. If you pop one of these in your mouth its like dining on the other kind raw only 100 times as tart. Serious pucker power when raw. Making the jelly tames the tartness real nice and the flavor of this jelly is serious intense. I love this jelly.

[Muskygary]

Looks great! What do you use to extract the juice? If you left the pulp in you could probably make jam! Since I'm a diabetic I like to make my jelly and jam using white grape juice as a sugar substitute. If need be I also use Splenda.

[ctom]

Simmer the berries in water is all we do. Maybe a cup of water to three quarts of berries. Let the berries cook until they pop. Strain them for an hour to let the juice drip out and that's about it.

71/2 cups of sugar in this recipe Gary...probably not good for you.

[WALLEYE WACKER]

Can we put in a request if we get together again it would fun to taste some jelly.

[Kasilofchrisn]

Nice job Tom.
We make tons of jams and jellies up here in AK.
We had tons and tons of all kinds of berries this year.
Blueberries both high and lowbush. High and lowbush cranberries. Rose hips.Red and golden raspberries. Salmon berries.Black and red currants.Then a friend sent up 2 big boxes of black berries from Washington so we made jam and jelly out of those also.
My parents picked 6 gallons of blueberries in one day and had time for an afternoon nap while we were camping.
My wife is giving tons of jam and jelly away as gifts for the holidays this year.
A few years ago I bought my wife a steam juicer. Definitely the way to go. makes a great Christmas gift for the wife.
She even made homemade applesauce and apple pie filling this year from apples from the
U-pick farms.
Then she juiced the peels and cores and we got a a half gallon of apple cider just from that.

[ctom]

I love the home-made stuff Kas. You're fortunate to have all the berry sources there that you have.

[Kasilofchrisn]

I love the home-made stuff Kas. You're fortunate to have all the berry sources there that you have.

It is the best. And no preservatives or other crap. Just berries sugar and pectin for most of them. I think some have a little lemon juice added.
My wife also likes the mixed berry. Salmonberry/Raspberry or the Strawberry Rhubarb she made.
The Strawberries are grown locally at a berry farm and we grow the Rhubarb.
You should buy a steam juicer. It works wonders for juicing berries,apples and such.
If you visit Alaska in August (avoiding that MN heat and humidity) I'll make sure you find plenty of berries.
Probably catch some fish too.

[ctom]

That is still on the list Kas. More of a dream really, but we all need something to dream of eh.

[Kdog]

Tart you say, I bet if you diced a jalepeno or 10 into your batch of jelly, you would have an excellent topper for crackers and cream cheese.

[ctom]

I already do that with some of my raspberry jelly. The wife loves the jelly this way. I did a batch of blueberry jam with the jalapenos too and its something else.

[TommySkarlis]

My wife has really gotten into making Pear and Apple Butter and Jam.  I really like the steam juicer idea - looks like something else to add to the Christmas List!

[Kasilofchrisn]

My wife has really gotten into making Pear and Apple Butter and Jam.  I really like the steam juicer idea - looks like something else to add to the Christmas List!

She will love the steam juicer my wife does.
 Like I said earlier the added bonus is when she makes her Apple or Pear butter the skins and cores that are normally tossed or fed to the farm animals can be turned into juice as well.
I turned the Apple cider my wife made into Christmas Wassail(Spiced apple cider with cloves,cinnamon etc) but if your the drinking type It would be great for Hard Cider I'm sure.