Friday, November 11

Apple & Apple Mint Jelly

This is not a typo
As
Apple & Apple Mint Jelly
is a mint jelly made with Apples, 
for their natural pectin and flavour 
and using Apple Mint 
(sometimes called wooly mint)

Apple mint is, 
in my opinion, by the far the most superior of mints
The flavour is flatter than regular mint
Oh and don't tell me you use spearmint to cook with?
everything ends up tasting like chewing gum!
No, Apple mint is what you need
Fantastic chopped with a little ginger and sprinkled over a fruit salad
Adds the perfect flavour to cous cous
and Lamb...... 
well of course with Lamb it is king.

As we have had a couple of mornings of frost recently here in Ireland 
I decided it was time to stock up on my mint fix for winter
And as my garden has been untended for a year
and the mint has gone a little wild
(taken over)
I made mint oil, by blanching about 
4 cups of mint leaves
chopping finely
and covering with good olive oil in a sealed and sterilised jar
I also did the same but covered the mint with vinegar
for a more traditional mint sauce 
and then decided to raise the bar, go all out and make a mint jelly
This was my first attempt at a jelly
(I mean a real jelly made with natural pectin not a chivers pack)

RECIPE

APPLE & APPLE MINT JELLY

4lbs Cooking Apples (or granny Smith )
4 cups water
2 cups vinegar
2 cups Apple Mint leaves whole
2 cups Apple Mint Leaves finely chopped
5 cups sugar (approx)

METHOD
Roughly chop the apples and add to large pan 
keep all of the core and seeds as these have the most pectin in them
add 2 cups whole mint leaves
bring to boil and boil for 20 mins
add vinegar
boil 5 more mins


Strain Apple pulp 
in a jelly bag if you have it
otherwise use an old pillow case
you should have 4-5 cups of clear amber coloured juice
Add this to clean pan and add 7/8 cup of sugar to every cup of juice
so for 5 cups of juice you will add approx 4 1/2 cups sugar
bring to the boil
add finely chopped mint
boil for 30 mins- 1 hour 
this will depend on how much pectin was released 
and how strong your mixture is
You want to reach the setting stage
You can test it using the cold saucer method 
or with a candy thermometer

you should get 4 x 8ozs jars of jelly


5 comments:

  1. Hi Helen

    You have been busy in the kitchen. It is great to get preserves put up for winter.
    I would like to try the mint and apple combination. I imagine a refreshing taste.
    Helen xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. i know! I am making up for lost time in NY when I had no time or space to cook, this is a really delicious combo.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very enterprising with the pillowcase, Helen, and it makes a great photo. I love apple mint too, much more so than regular mint.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have only read this and was fixing to make the jelly but I notice that 4 cups of water are in the recipe and no where in the instructions does it tell you what to do with the water. Do you put it in the pot with the vinegar and 2 cups of apple mint leaves or what.

    ReplyDelete

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