Apple jelly failure

[beetiger]

I do not seem to be able to make apple jelly this year. I have tried to make several batches, and although one came out just fine, the rest haven't jelled and have just turned into hard-candy in a glass jar, of pretty much no value. Today's failed as well, but at least this time I've had the foresight to pour it on a silicon baking sheet and I'll hopefully have honey-apple-jasmine candy, in eadible pieces, not stuck in a glass jar.

But I'm really really confused. I've been doing this for years, and I've never had a batch fail before, and this is the fourth time. I must have forgotten something in the last two years, but I really can't figure out what.

I'm sad and confused by this.

Comments

[marrionettegirl.livejournal.com]

the only reason i know of jelly doing that is too much suger, not enough pectin....
too much suger will make it harder, and not enough pectin will keep it from jelling just right,
though, my only experience is with jellies is with berries(straw raz &braz) and grapes

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

Doh. I should read before commenting. :)


but anyhow. I agree. Probably not enough pectin.

[marrionettegirl.livejournal.com]

hehe :)
i've had the overly viscus grape jelly thing happen to me many years ago, and it was my grandma who explained that if i didnt add enough, it would be like syrup! (which actualy it was great on pancakes!)

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

^_^ Yeah.. I have warm memories of my great grandmother and canning. I spent summers working at her farm when I was little. My favorite was blackberry jam. I'd spend hours out in the briars picking blackberries and then we'd make it into jam.

Until a few years ago, I had neighbors who had a really old orchard and I'd give them vegetables from my garden and they'd give me fruit from their trees. Anyhow, they had a quince tree and didn't even know the fruit was edible so they let me have all the fruit. Heh. In a year our friends went from saying, "Quince? What's that?" to, "Um... Are you going to make more of that quince butter this year?" :) (We gave a lot of it to friends (and our neighbors too, of course!) as christmas gifts. :) It's a little more coarse than apple butter and a little more tangy but it also has this undefinable spice flavor that we really enjoy. :)

[marrionettegirl.livejournal.com]

nmy grandmother and i would cann, in our garden, we had raz, black raz, and strawberries, but never enough for jelly, so we'd do ruduabega/strawberry jam, and friends of hers had an acre or so of berries! i'd spend weeks over there picking berries and grapes!! they made the bestest jellie!

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Yeah, presumably. But I had a lot of peels and cores in this batch, so I'm not sure how that's possible. I guess I'll go ahead and alcohol test the next batch of juice before I start, try and titrate it that way. That, or give up and wait for marmalade season. :P

[marrionettegirl.livejournal.com]

any kind of spreadable fruit is awesome!

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

I might be oversugaring, I guess. I've been relying on the proportions from previous years. I think I'm going to have to alcohol-test for pectin and try to calibrate it that way.

[paka.livejournal.com]

Change in humidity maybe?

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

Perhaps their pectin content is too low this year? (very sweet apples?)

You might try throwing a quince or two into the mix and see if that helps. Or maybe just add some pectin.

[allessindra.livejournal.com]

maybe you can break the glass off the candy and have awesome shattered apple candy?

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

I am, unfortunately, not much use since the first thing I ever tried to can...exploded. They were cold pack pickles and instead of sealing they decided to seal and then ferment and make a huge mess.

Hopefully you'll figure it out. It sounds like perhaps the proportions of the ingredients might be off --- too much pectin or not enough?

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

The problem is I don't use added pectin -- just what's in the apples. and they're behaving weird this year. :P

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

Your apples either didn't have enough or had too much. I remembered the problem from canning crabapples as a child. Too much pectin or too little and you get no jelly at all. It will either run or be rock hard. At least you salvaged some of it for candy.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Yup. It's just this ratio has worked for the apples from these tress for a decade now, so I've gotten used to success.

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

Too bad there's no way to get the candy in the glass out. It sounds like it would have made yummy lollipops.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Just think of this as a learning experience! And I'm sure you'll figure it out on one of your next tries! *hugs*

[djinni.livejournal.com]

I have never had apple jelly, nor, for reasons unknown to me, been aware of its existence. How can this be? Apple jelly! I will have to find some.

I found out that there is a such thing as pumpkin butter a few weeks ago. Do you know how to make pumpkin butter?

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

yeah. Cook pumpkin for a while, puree, add sugar and spices, cook a whole lot more. :)

[ladyperegrine.livejournal.com]

I'm never sure how to get the peel off the pumpkin correctly, which part is eaten, the stringy goop around the seeds or the meat - and if the meat, how it comes off the peel. I've tried reading recipes, but I still end up confused.

But...yum...pumpkin butter sounds divine.

[djinni.livejournal.com]

I'm learning how to cook, so I should try. The jar I bought is almost gone :d

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

If at some point this year i actually manage to make some, I'll send you a jar. :)

[djinni.livejournal.com]

I would trade art for jelly. I am a fan of things that go on toast. :B

[rowyn]

I would trade art for jelly, too! I am sad that your jelly isn't jelling. :(

[ladyperegrine.livejournal.com]

pumpkin butter...I have never heard of it either, but it sounds amazingly good!!!

this may end up being a halloween project...

thanks. i think? :-)

[djinni.livejournal.com]

It tastes like Halloween. Or maybe pie, on your English muffins.