Hanging About

It's amazing what you find hanging in peoples houses - hats or coats at the front door.. photos and paintings.. drying flowers or cooked apples... that's what was hanging about in our house recently.

I got brave, broke out my of my comfort zone and decided to make some apple jelly and some apple and raspberry jelly. Now I have to admit to messin' the photos.. so your going to have to play pretend and imagine it's raspberry in the pot. cause I forgot to take a photo ..

For those of you who haven't tried to make jelly.. try easy as.. for those of you who have then.. you know what comes next..

Apples.. and a big pot.. now the thing I like about this recipe is there is no peeling or coring.. you just grab your 3kg of apples. I used Sundowner , probably not best to use a green apple like Granny Smith because you will end up with a major pucker factor at the end - so chop them little babies up cores, skin and all, pop them into your pot with about 6 cups of water.. you can leave it like this or do what I did was toss in the dregs of the raspberry bag, about 300grams, you could add more just take a cup of water out. Cook your apples for about 30 minutes.. till they are soft and mushy but not like apple sauce. Cook them down and strain them through muslin or cheese cloth.. you could use a clean old pillow slip, but I used a ham bag.. Suspend this from somewhere, I know not that easy a taste, with cats, dogs and kids but this is a improvise, adapt and overcome moment.  They say not to squeeze the bag.. I didn't, so maybe you shouldn't either.. you can't argue with hundreds of years of  woman saying * don't squeeze the bag it makes it cloudy*
In the morning measure out your apple juice.. I had about a litre.. I measured out four cups. brought this to the boil then added 4 cups of sugar. Next time, I am going less sugar or stevia to see what happens. Boil this brew for about 10 minutes.  A good rolling boil..

This is the pretend photo, pretend this is pink from raspberry.. nice and clear.. test after 10 minutes by putting a little on a saucer.. it will wrinkle if you run your finger through it.. if it is still to wet, boil for another 5 minutes. When it will set, pour it into hot sterile bottles. I water bath these for 10 minutes..

This is my finished apple and raspberry jelly.. It was really so easy and rather tasty.. and something to enjoy in the cooler months. *wonder if this is how a squirrel feels when he fills his house with nuts for winter*