Help! Jelly experts, I need you!

[Albertan mom]

I am in the process of making crabapple jelly for the first time ever.

I followed all the instructions in the Certo box.
The pulp is now draining.
I did what the box said, put 3 layers of cheesecloth in a strainer, put the pulp on it. I have gotten 5.5 cups of juice out so far. I need 7!!
It says I can add 1/2 cup of water if needed.
But I need 1 cup more of juice!
It also says not to squeeze the cheesecloth.
If I just wait, will more come?
What should I do??
I would hate to have gone to all this work, and it not work. My dd will be very sad too.
please-any advice???

 

[piratesmate]

Definitely do not squeeze the cheesecloth. If you do, you're jelly will get sediment in it & be rather unattractive - read: kids won't eat it. LOL

I often just used mine with less juice. It might be a little "stiffer" that way though.

Since you want to follow the directions, I'd suggest adding the 1/2 cup of water & then add a cup of bottled apple juice.

Or, you could add a cup & a half or two of water to the pulp, re-heat it & let it drain some more.

If you're worried about adding the juice, check the Certo Recipe here:
http://www.kraftfoods.com/recipes/JamsJelliesPreserves/ApplePeachPearOther/CERTOAppleJelly.html

 

[Albertan mom]

Thanks sounds good.
I will wait another hour or so, then maybe add juice, or do the reheat thing.

I wondered why you weren't supposed to squeeze the cheesecloth, I thought it might bruise the fruit (that I just finished mashing!!)
Martha Stewart I am not!!!

 

[piratesmate]

Did you ever wonder about the difference between apple cider & apple juice? Cider is made from the entire apple (bruises & all), but that's not the only difference. The big thing is that they press it - which gets you a thicker/darker end product.

If you're going to add the juice, I'd just add it when you add the stuff you drained. Don't pour it through the apple pulp. I don't think that a cup or cup & a half of regular apple will change the flavor of your crab apples much.

Let us know how it turns out, okay?

 

[Albertan mom]

Thanks soooo much for all your help. I would have been totally stressed and confused without you!! I did add 1 cup of apple juice (thankfully I had one juice box in the fridge!!) and got another 1/2 cup of juice from the straining.

OK, at the risk of sounding like a total dummy-can you do anything with the leftover pulp? Probably not right-because it is full of seeds and skin and stuff....

Thanks again, time to finish up the jelly!

 

[piratesmate]

I never did it this way, but....how about trying to make some applesauce out of the pulp? What did you hang the cheese cloth in? I always used my cone-shaped sieve that had a wooden thing that looked like half a rolling pin. (You use the wooden thing to push the pulp/sauce out of the sieve.) Or if you have a food mill, Victorio Strainer or Squeezo, they're even better for making applesauce.

I used to quarter my apples, add water & cook until soft - peel, seeds & all. Then I'd dump the apples into the sieve & press out what I could. You might get enough for dinner tomorrow....I'm not sure how much you'd get since you already used it for the juice. But adding water should work....the water will still taste like apple because of the pulp.

 

[Albertan mom]

I have a recipe from the Companys Coming Kids Cooking book for Fruit Leather where you just take applesauce, 1tbsp sugar or honey and a pinch of cinnamon and lay it out really thin on a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap (won't that melt? I would think to use wax paper?) and cook it for 7 hours at 150 F (65C). Turn the pan around after 3 hours. When it is leathery and will lift away from the wrap it is done. Cool for 5 minutes, Roll up and wrap with saran wrap.
Healthy fruit roll ups!

I may just put it in the fridge for now since it is late and try this tomorrow. If anything, the house will smell great!

(I put three layers of cheesecloth in a strainer, wet it, then poured the apples on it. It slowly drained juice out into the bowl below because I didn't have a special juice extracter or jelly bag)

The jelly looks good. I got 6 big jars out of the recipe. * Next question-how long does it have to set? Can we have it for breakfast tomorrow morning?

 

[Albertan mom]

I took the leftover pulp-about 4 cups of it, put in in a strainer, took a pastry blender, and smashed it up over a bowl. After much smashing, I came out with 1.5-2 cups of smooth sauce with no seeds or skin. I added 2 tbsp of sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon-it tastes yummy!! I may eat it as applesauce, or use it to make the fruit leather.
Thanks again piratesmate for the jelly help!

 

[piratesmate]

You're welcome. I'm sure it will be ready to eat this morning! I used to run mine through a canner (steam bath) as soon as I put it in the jars. Then we'd just put those that didn't seal properly into the refrigerator to eat right away. I tried using parafin like my mother used to do once, but I had a problem where there must have been a poor seal & the jelly got moldy. So I decided to can ours because it keeps quite a while in the 'frig & at least it doesn't get wasted.

Now why did I go off on that tangent?? Oh - because we often had some that hadn't sealed after a couple hours.

I've done fruit leather too. I used wax paper for mine because I wasn't sure my oven temp was accurate that low and I didn't want to wait to find out. If you're sure your oven is okay, I'd use the plastic wrap! Mine stuck to the wax paper & was a pain to peel off.

 

[Albertan mom]

I just had 3 pieces of toast and jelly! It was yummy!

Next question-how can I be sure it sealed right? I just bought the twist on Bernardin jars. In the book is says the lids curve downward and do not move when pressed. But that is with heat processing them. I see they aren't curved downward, they are just flat. I didn't heat process them. How can I be sure they are good?

 

[piratesmate]

I'm not familiar with that brand/type of jars. What I used was supposed to be curved downward also though. Sometimes they would seal because the jelly had been hot enough when you closed them up - if you were fast enough. Mine always made a "pop" when they sealed.

To double-check that they were sealed, I would push down on the lid. If they had some "give" to them they weren't sealed.

I'm assuming you don't have a canner to use. Do you have a "blancher"? Its like a double boiler except the inner pot has holes in it. You could probably use that. Or I had a friend who used her microwave. She'd put the jars with hot jelly in the microwave & do them for a couple minutes. (Sorry don't know how long!) That would make them hot enough to seal.

If you aren't sure they're sealed & don't want to mess with them further, I'd just try to find space in the refrigerator to keep them. We don't use jelly all that often around here, but always buy a large jar because it's cheaper. I've had it in the 'frig for 6 months without any problems.