How to Make Raspberry Jelly

Jellies differ from jams in that you use only fruit juice in preparing jelly, not the whole fruit. The juice must be extracted from the fruit before cooking. This extra step ensures that a jelly is clear and smooth, never stiff or chunky like jam can be.This recipe uses pectin, which is a common natural additive to make the jelly "jell." There are ways to make jelly without adding pectin, but this is rather difficult with low-pectin fruits like raspberries, strawberries, or peaches.

Things You'll Need

• Raspberries
• sugar
• a bottle or box of fruit pectin
• a strainer
• a jelly bag (made of unbleached cheesecloth or muslin, or a similarly porous material)
• glass ball jars (with two-part lids consisting of a flat top and a sealing ring)
• a spoon or other scooping utensil
• a large pot
• a bath canner or very large pot

Instructions

How to Make Raspberry Jelly

1. First, you'll need to prepare your jars for canning. They'll need to be completely sterilized so that the jelly will keep. You can pop them into the dishwasher, or you can fill the jars with water and boil them for about 20 minutes, the lids and rings, in a shallow pot or pan.

2. Now you'll need to extract the raspberry juice. Wash and drain the raspberries, then crush them a bit to get the juice flowing. Cook them down over low heat, uncovered, for several minutes, then on medium heat until they have become soft and less red. A preserving kettle can be used to cook the berries, but a regular pot works fine, too. Strain the mixture through a jelly bag that you can be purchase commercially, or you can make your own using only a piece of cheesecloth or muslin and forming it into a bag shape. If you choose this second method, hold the homemade bag over a strainer to catch the excess fruit pieces. If you use a well-sewn store-bought bag, you can just suspend it above the vessel you're using to catch the juice. Wet the bag and wring it out a little before using it to strain the raspberries.

3. Simmer the newly strained juice for about five minutes, uncovered. Check your pectin box or bottle to see when you should add your pectin. Different types of pectin (liquid or solid) should be used at different times during the process. Usually powdered pectin is added before the sugar and liquid pectin is added after the sugar. Follow the directions on the pectin package to know when to add it to the mixture.Add sugar slowly until it is completely dissolved. Use 3/4 cup of sugar for each cup for juice, but this produces fairly sweet jelly, so use a bit less if you want your jelly to be tart. Keep the mixture boiling for ten minutes.

4. Now, test the consistency of the jelly. Use a kitchen utensil to take a little bit of jelly, raise it up, and let it drop back into the pot. If the jelly still seems like liquid, let it cook a few more minutes, then test again. When the jelly is done, it should clump together and fall smoothly off of the utensil. Alternatively, if you have a jelly thermometer (or even a candy thermometer), cook the jelly until it reaches 220 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the optimal temperature for jelling.

5. When the jelly is ready for canning, remove it from the stove and set up your sterilized jars. They should be dry inside, but still warm. Fill the jars with jelly, using a spoon or other utensil, almost to the top, but leaving just a little space between the lid and the jelly. Seal the jars, then boil them in a bath canner or very large pot filled with boiling water, about 7 minutes.

Tips & Warnings

• You can add some water to the raspberries when extracting the juice if you're having some trouble getting them to cook down. This may mute the flavor a little, but will probably make it easier to extract the juice.

• Small quantities work best for any kind of jelly or preserve— use only 4 cups of juice per batch. Larger batches are possible, but then the product may not "jell" as well. If you want more jelly than this allows, make several batches instead of one big batch.

• Traditionally, many people used to use hot paraffin to seal the tops of jam jars by pouring paraffin between the jelly and the lid. However, often this seal is incomplete, and can lead to poorly preserved jelly. If you don't use the sterilizing bath and rely only on a paraffin seal, you could end up with mold or bacteria growing in your jelly!

Resources

• Great supplies for making and canning jellies!