Making edible gifts for family and friends is of the most enjoyable parts of the Christmas season. There is something very satisfying about tucking a carefully labelled jar or beribboned bag into a parcel for a friend. A little homemade something cheers up even the most pedestrian shop-bought present, and a few home made items can make a handsome and very personal gift. Some years I even manage to produce small christmas hampers, with christmas cake, home made liqueur, biscuits and preserves.
But on less productive years (like this one), when December had other plans for me, and time in the kitchen was limited, I still managed to make some jars of mulled cranberry jelly, and some bags of sugared pecans*.
The cranberry jelly recipe is adapted from one of those perennial magazine supplements that appear every Christmas. The smell of apples, cranberries and spices simmering on the stove is warm and aromatic, the finished cranberry jelly tastes delicious, and the jars look pretty when tied with a ribbon and decorated with a christmas label.
The quantities below produce about 5 half pound jars, so for that quantity of jelly, it is worth the effort, and the inevitable stickiness and general kitchen carnage of dealing with so many pounds of sugar.
Mulled Cranberry Jelly.
First, sterilise your jam jars.
Ingredients:
3kg cooking apples, unpeeled, cut into rough chunks.
900g fresh cranberries
500ml red wine
3-4 whole cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 tbsp whole cloves
preserving sugar and caster sugar
Method:
Put the apple chunks and cranberries into a heavy based pan, or preserving pan (known as a 'jeely pan' in Scotland.) Add the wine, cinnamon and cloves, and 1 litre of cold water. Bring to the boil, and simmer until the fruit is very soft; about 15-20 minutes.
This next part (straining the jelly )is what puts many people off; all the talk of muslin squares tied with string, jelly bags suspended on upended stools, and bags of fruit juice dripping overnight is really enough to put the average person off the whole business. I have my own foreshortened method which is this: I line a colander with an old, clean, thinnish tea towel (or a muslin square of course), and place it over a large jug, or bowl, which is sufficiently wide to comfortably support the colander by its handles, carefully empty the contents of the preserving pan into it, and leave it for 2-3 hours. By that time the vast bulk of the fruit juice will have dripped through the teatowel/muslin into the jug or bowl below.
Don't be tempted to squeeze or press the fruit down to release more juice, as this will result in a cloudy final product. When you are ready, discard the fruit pulp and measure the strained fruit juice.
Now it's time to make your beautiful, clear, fruit and spice liquid, into the actual jelly. For every 600ml of liquid, you need 450g of sugar. I usually use caster sugar as I always have it in the house, but you can use granulated if you prefer. I use one third preserving (or jam) sugar to two thirds caster sugar. I find more than one third preserving sugar gives a very hard set, and I like my preserves to have a more voluptuous consistency.
Put the juice and the sugars back in the (washed out) pan, and heat very gently until the sugars dissolve, and you can no longer feel any grittiness on the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon.
Turn up the heat and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for about three minutes, skimming off any scum that gathers at the edge of the boiling mass, then start testing for a set. There are various methods of assessing whether your jelly is set, my preferred option is the 'flake' test, lifting the spoon out of the boiling jelly to see if it forms a flake on the edge of the wooden spoon after a few minutes boiling, which is very quick and accurate, and doesn't involve stashing saucers in the freezer beforehand. The flake is very distinctive, you will know as soon as you see it that it is different from the jam simply running off the spoon back into the pot.
(Courtesy of Google Images)
Immediately you have a set, turn the heat off, and skim off any remaining scum. When you are ready to pot up, ladle the jelly into the warm jars. (I find a preserving funnel a great help here.) Fill the jars very close to the top, and place a waxed disc on top of the jelly, smoothing out air bubbles (I use the end of a teaspoon for this).These measures help to provide a hygenic seal and will improve the shelf life of your preserves. Screw the lid on tightly, wipe down the jars with a damp cloth to catch any stray drips or spills and then prettify with ribbon and label etc. Should keep for six months; store in fridge once opened, and eat within a week.
I made several batches of this jelly, and gave away the vast majority of it, keeping a couple of jars for use at home. Being a vegetarian, I was reliably and enthusiastically informed by the family that it was the perfect accompniament to cold meats, and I can tell you from personal experience that it is absloutely delicious on hot buttered muffins, especially when taken in front of the fire, with a fresh pot of tea, ready to be poured, as 'Mapp and Lucia' is about to start on television!
*no photographs of the sugared pecans, so that recipe will come another time.
