Boysenberry Jelly (a quick recipe and a standard recipe)

 

 

Boysenberry Jelly.

In New Zealand, boysenberries begin to ripen in December (summer-time), and continue into January.

 

Below, I have provided two recipes for Boysenberry Jelly. One is very quick to make using a small amount of fruit (100g).

The second recipe is the general or official way to make jelly. This recipe uses a larger amount of fruit and takes longer to make, as the fruit is double boiled and stored in sterilized preserving jars.

 

RECIPE: QUICK BOYSENBERRY JELLY (amounts for 100g of boysenberries)

 

100g boysenberries

100g sugar

2 tspns water

1 ½ tspns lemon juice

½ apple, chopped

 

1. Chop the apple half (don’t worry about removing the skin or the core as the jelly will be strained later, and the apple’s skin and core are rich in pectin that will set the jelly).

 

2. Place the ingredients in a pot and boil for 13 minutes, with the mixture just bubbling.

 

3. Sieve the mixture, and let it drain through the sieve naturally without pushing too much pulp through, or the jelly will be cloudy.

 

4. Pour the strained jelly into a clean preserving jar.

[NOTE: since this is a small amount of jelly that will be used fairly quickly, you can get away with just washing a jar and sterilising it with boiling water and drying the jar, before pouring in the strained hot boysenberry jelly, (this is instead of sterilizing the jars in the oven if you were making a large amount of jelly).]

 

 

If you were making a larger amount of boysenberry jelly to store for several months, you would use the following recipe, which I have provided for reference below:

 

GENERAL JELLY RECIPE

 

1. Wash the fruit and drain. Place the fruit in a pot, and add a small amount of water. Boysenberries contain water already, so add enough water to barely cover the fruit. Simmer until very soft and all juices are extracted from the fruit, about ½ to ¾ of an hour.

 

2. Strain through a jelly bag, or cheesecloth. Tie this tight at the top and hang it up and allow the juice to drip through. This takes quite a while. Do not squeeze the jelly bag to speed up the process, as this will make the jelly cloudy.

 

3. Measure the juice. Allow 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of juice.

 

4. Put juice back into the preserving pan, add the sugar, and boil rapidly for 5 minutes. Sir until sugar is dissolved. Skim off any scum.

 

5. Cook rapidly to setting point, (about 10-15 minutes) and test the consistency on a cold saucer. Leave the test jelly to cool slightly – you are looking for a wrinkly surface on the jelly as it cools, and if you draw your finger through the jelly a channel will form and remain open without the jelly spreading back.

 

Pour into hot sterilised preserving jars. Please refer to this link for instructions on sterilising preserving jars: https://www.inthekitchenwithmum.com/2014/05/how-to-sterilise-and-seal-jars-for-preserves-and-jams/

 

6. Place lids or cellophane covers on hot filled jars immediately, and allow to cool.

 

 

 

REFERENCES:

Mary Norwak’s Book of Jams, Marmalades and Sweet Preserves : Over 350 Mouth-Watering Recipes.

London : Sphere, 1973 (1977 reprint).

Paperback.

 

Edmonds Cookery Book

Published in New Zealand : [(?) and I am not sure which edition or reprint this book was as I have many different editions of this iconic book, in many states of well-used disrepair]