gold flecked and jewel like…

Now as a Brit I was brought up putting mint jelly and a fairly astringent mint jelly at that on roast lamb.  I still do like jams and jellies with meat, in particular redcurrant jelly with roast beef and cranberry & orange sauce with turkey of course. But this one is so fragrant that I love it spread on fresh bread and eaten with really good butter, or spread on fresh hot scones.

The secret to not having horrid black mint in your preserve is to chop the cleaned mint (important) right before you put it into the jelly, and to put it into the jelly when the jelly is in fact warm and just gelling and is not cooked to death by the hot liquid so that it then floats in the jelly rather than sinking.  To make sure the jam is sterilised you then water bath the jam for 30 minutes at 100C.

How To

Boil up one quantity of apple jelly made with whole apples and sugar – see frugal apple jelly

Test it for setting point (it should set fairly easily as its full of pectin) – see the Jam Sessions – rules to make Jam

let it cool until you can see it is gelling.  Chop the mint finely. Add to the jelly. Stir. Now Bottle it in sterilised jars.

Place the jars in a large saucepan or two saucepans of water. they should be covered. Bring to the boil. When boiling time for 30  minutes. Allow to cool.  Your jelly will now have liquefied again due to the heat but will re-set as it cools.