Now That's My Kind of Jelly! How to Make Low Sweet, No Muss, No Fuss, Set Every Time Jelly

Jelly making has been a traditional fall event at Heart's Ease Cottage for many, many years. When the children were small it was a late night venture, when I didn't have to worry about "littles" under foot. Once the kids were grown it was easier to make it a daytime project. No matter what the time of day it is, or time of year for that matter, setting the mood is an important part of the process. I fling the windows open, turn the ceiling fans on high, crank up the tunes and make a lovely mess out of my kitchen.

 I freeze fruits from our gardens over the summer to use in the fall. I also look forward to harvesting apples and pears from the mountain farms in the fall for jelly and other thing like fruit leathers and dried apple rings (but that is a post for another day). Many times I will cook down fruit and extract the juice for jelly, putting it in freezer bags to be made into jelly at a later date. This cuts the jelly making time down and decompresses the whole process a good bit. In recent years, I haven't often had a whole day to devote to a kitchen project, so breaking the process into smaller pieces makes it more likely that I will actually get all the way through to jars of jelly sitting on the shelf.

In the past, homemade jelly required more cups of sugar than cups of fruit juice in order to get the jelly to set. Our diet does not allow for much refined sweetener so a lot of the jelly was made for gift giving and not for our consumption. The exception would be Still Water's personal blackberry jelly stash, which he guards jealously and is reluctant to share even within the household...

But then one day I made a discovery that changed what we could keep in our larder for our own use. Traditional pectin gels by a sugar/pectin/acid trifecta that can be a bit unpredictable and requires a huge amount of sugar to get the jelly to set. But much to my delight I discovered a citrus pectin that gels due to a reaction between the pectin and a solution of calcium carbonate. No sugar is required to get a gel and it's set is very consistent and reliable. The fruit juice sets to jelly as the mixture cools; no spoon testing required to determine if it will set!

So rather than talk about how to make traditional apple pectin jelly, I am going to walk through the process of jelly making using citrus pectin and calcium carbonate. The product that I use is called Pomona Universal Pectin. It is a little pricey, but when you consider how much sugar can be eliminated from a recipe and the fact that you can get 22 cups of jelly out of a box, it is really quite a good deal!

For our family wholesome and nutritious is tantamount. What we put in our body needs to nourish and strengthen us. We like sweets as well as the next person, but not at the expense of our health and immune system. So I was thrilled when I found a pectin that doesn't require sugar to set the jelly! (Ball makes a no sugar needed pectin, but it has dextrose in it and I am not a fan so I won't use it, and the set was never spectacular in my experience). Now I can have lovely fruit spread for bagels and sandwiches without having to poison myself with sugar!

The name of the pectin is Pomona's Universal Pectin. It has been around awhile, but the price always put me off and after my experience with Ball's "no sugar needed" pectin, I was reluctant to give it a try. Then Healthy Home Market went out of business and was selling everything a 75% off so I bought a box. I used it  the next day and was so thrilled with the results that I went back and bought every box that was on the shelf!

What makes Pomona so great?  No sweetener is necessary, since the jelling action come from a combination of citrus pectin, calcium and citric acid. Of course, you can sweeten the jelly to your personal taste with the sweetener of your choice. The directions cover a number of different ways you can sweeten your jelly, everything from no sweetener to stevia, agave, honey and yes should you choose to do so, sugar.  It also can be used to make jello. But hold on! There is more good news! You can make as many batches at once as you like!  Ball pectin cannot be doubled, but must be jellied one batch at a time because of the fickle nature of apple pectin. But Pomona Universal Pectin is made from citrus pectin and uses calcium to create the jell so it will consistently jell no matter how many batches you put in the jelly pot. Also one box of pectin will make 22 8 oz. jars of jelly, where Ball pectin renders only 8- 8 oz. jars per box. And if that isn't enough, there is no need for a jelly thermometer, no boiling to the jelly point and testing for set, you just add the directed amount of calcium to the fruit juice, mix the pectin with the sweetener and when the juice and calcium come to a boil; add the sweetener/pectin blend stir until dissolved and return to a boil for one minute. No need to check for set, just ladle into sterilized jars, clean rims, adjust lids and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. The jelly will set when cool.

So now that I have expounded on the virtues of Pomona pectin, I will share my recipe for Blueberry Lime Jelly!

                                                     Blueberry Lime Jelly

One recipe makes 4 cups of jelly.

4 cups of rendered blueberry juice
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
the zest of one lime (I always use organic limes, conventionally grown citrus is sprayed with a fungicide that won't completely wash off)
1/2 cup honey
4 tsp. pectin
4 tsp. calcium

For each batch of jelly that renders 4 cups, use 3 cups of mashed fruit and extract the juice by boiling the fruit with 1 cup of bottled apple juice or other juice that won't compete with the flavor of your fruit.(I use organic fruit and organic apple juice but the choice is yours).

Crush the fresh berries and add apple juice. Cook over medium heat to extract the juice from the berries.

I only use organic citrus zest since commercially grown citrus is
 sprayed heavily with pesticides and fungicides that won't come completely
off the skins when washed.

I have a plane zester that I swear by. The zest comes off the fruit in fine strands
and leaves all the white pith on the lime. 

I use organic apple juice, but any juice flavor you want can be used, just
 be sure that the flavor of the juice compliments the fruit.

I usually make 3 or 4 batches at a time since the pectin works on multiple batches. Really, who only makes 4 jars of jelly at a time? I usually make enough jars to fill the canner.

Once the juice has been extracted, ladle the cooked fruit pulp and juice into a strainer lined with cheese cloth.

Strain cooked fruit pulp and juice through a double layer of
cheese cloth suspended over a pan by a mesh. strainer

 Allow the juice to drip into a bowl or pan until it stops actively dripping. Then pull up the corners of the cheesecloth, twist the drawn up corners until tight against the pulp and twist and squeeze the remaining juice through the strainer until all the juice is out of the pulp. The total amount of juice needed is 4 cups of juice per batch.

Allow the juice to drip until it slows perceptibly

When the juice stops dripping by itself, draw up the corners of the cheesecloth
and twist tight against to pulp. Twist, press and squeeze until all the
 possible juice is removed then compost the pulp.

Remove the pectin and the calcium from the box, (the smaller packet is the calcium). In a small jar put the contents of the packet and add 1/2 cup water, put on a lid and shake until powder is completely dissolved in water.  You will be using  4 tsp. of calcium per batch of jelly.

Mix the packet of calcium with 1/2 cup water and shake until dissolved.
Any leftover calcium liquid should be stored in the fridge.

Put the juice in your jelly pot, add 4 tsp. calcium, 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice the zest of 1 lime, per batch, and heat to a boil. While the juice is heating, mix together well, 1/2 cup honey per batch of jelly  ( you can add up to 1 cup of honey if 1/2 cup, isn't sweet enough) and 4 tsp. pectin.

Bring the juice to a full boil, add sweetener/pectin mixture and stir vigorously 1-2 minutes until dissolved. Once the liquid is at a full boil, take the pot off the heat an ladle into sterilized jars. using a spoon carefully remove any scum or bubbles from the surface of the jelly.

 Clean the rims with a clean cloth, adjust lids and process in a water bath canner in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove jars with a jar lifter and place on the counter to cool. The jelly will set once the jars and liquid are completely cool. Could take overnight to set.

Wipe the rim of the jars with a clean damp cloth, then apply the flat part of a
two part lid that has been in boiling water. Add the band and adjust to just finger tight.

*Note: If you are used to regular ball pectin you will be surprised at how few jars of jelly you get per batch. The reason is that you aren't using 7 to nine cups of sugar per batch, so you are basically getting one cup of jelly per cup of juice. It is healthy and practically guilt free!

All the jelly I have made with this pectin has come out perfectly. There has been no loose or runny jelly, just firm spreadable jelly that is lightly sweet so that all the lovely fruit flavor comes through. If you try the pectin, or the recipe, please pop back to my blog and tell me what you think!