Pear Jelly

Perfect for roasts in the place of apple jelly, maybe with a sweet pie pudding too! 

Ingredients:

2kg of pears

1lt of water

1-2kg sugar (this is depending on how much liquid you end up with. For everly 1.2l you need 1kg of sugar.)

1-2 lemons (1 lemon per 1kg of sugar.)

How to make pear jelly: 

First peal your pears, chopping off the tops and bottoms.

Using a large sauce pan, add the water and pears. (Keeping the peelings to one side if you wish to make vinegar.)

Bring to the boil.

Took a good hour to an hour and a half on a slow soft boil, to get them soft to squash.

Many people say to use a tea towel or muslin cloth and suspend the liquid and mashed up pears higher. I didn't have a muslin bag to hand so this is how I did it. 

Pour all the liquid and mashed up pears through. For best results, leave over night.

Measure out 1.2lt of the liquid and add 1kg of sugar. Add the juice of one lemon.

Heat slowly, allowing all the sugar to melt completely. Put a china plate into the fridge. 

Then bring to a gentle boil. 

Click here to see my blog about how to jar up!

A lot of people use the method of checking the temperature to check when it's ready to jar up. I don't have one, so I check with a cold plate from the fridge. Pour a little onto the plate, how does it move? Fast like water or slow like jelly. When it's ready it will stay still and not run.

Now, this way of doing it won't always set. Once you have left them to cool, if it doesn't set hard like jelly then you will need to re-boil and re-jar. 

Leave the jars on a drying rack to cool. It takes a few hours for them to set.

I made two batches, one to make jelly and one to make syrup. (The syrup is very much like honey. Not fully set but thick and perfect for everlything you would use honey for. It has a very zingy flavour and taste.)

This is the 'honey' style. 

Now this is where I had such a terrible time...in my defence I haven't made any jellies in about a year. They didn't set, so I repeated it again, with a little more lemon. I over heated/cooked it for two long and made candy!!

So what do you do when life gives you lemons? You make lemonade, right!?

So looks like we will be having some candy apples!! My next batch I will double check this and let you know of any changes to be made! 

Jarring up!

This is a quick easy way of jarring up your jams, jellies and chutneys. Please note this way will not preserve the contents, you need to make sure what you are putting in the jars will keep for the length of time you require.

First, wash your jars. I wash them on a high dishwasher cycle. I also soak and remove all the labels. 

On the most part you won't need how many jars you will need till you have finished making what ever it is your putting in them. So always have a few extra ready to go! 

Now you will need the contents of the jars to be hot/warm when you fill them. As they cool they will pull down the lid and seal the jar. Keep this in mind, as you will need to time making your jam etc to be ready to jar straight up!

Pre-heat your oven at 100. This is a hot and fast way of jarring up, so have your wits about you ;)

To help me fill my jars, I have cut off the bottom of this plastic funnel. So that the large bits of fruit still flow through to the jar. (It's been suggested that you could do the same with an empty squash bottles. Which I think is a fab idea!! A great frugal money saving idea!)

I use an old pizza tray to pop the jars and lids on. I found a deep tray just led to problems! 

I use a large ladle, to spoon the mixture into the jars.

When you are ready to jar up remove your jars from the oven, they need to have heated right through. A good 15mins to have heated up too 100c. Do not go over this. 

Remember the lids, tray and jar will be very hot. 

Be very careful when ladling in the mixture as the jar or funnel could move. 

Leave about 1-2cm gap between the mixture and lid.

There are two different ways to pop on the lid. Some people leave them half on and tighten later or you can do as I do and go as tight as possible straight away. 

Insure you don't try and tighten without a teatowel or other proctection. As the jar with hot mixer in side will be very, very hot to touch and most likely burn you!

I keep the oven on while am jarring up, in case I have not got the right amount of jars for the job. 

Then I can grab my spare jars and pop them in the oven. It's best to start with more than you think you will need as extra cooking time could mess up your mixture! 

Now leave your jars on a drying rack, to cool, before touching them. Count how many jars you have. You will need to count the **pops** then you know the lid has sealed. (If you had to pop out, you can check that the lids have gone flat.) 

Am quite silly, I love hearing the pops! 

This way insures the jars are sterilised before use, it's my favourite way to jar up! 

Keep an eye out for my blog about label making coming soon.

Click here for my yummy Wild Blackberry Jam!