Mint Jelly
Pudina Jelly
Sunita Gupta
Mint jelly is traditionally served with roast lamb, but can be served with ham, beef or even poultry. If you have never tried it on a hot buttered toast, now is the time!
Ingredients
1 cooking apple
3 bunches of mint
Water to cover fruit
Sugar according to measure given under step 8
6 tbsp. lemon juice
3-4 drops of green food colour (optional)
Instructions
Wash and roughly chop apples.
Wash and chop 2 bunches of mint roughly.
Chop the 3rd bunch of mint very finely by hand or in a food processor and keep aside.
Place the apples, 2 bunches of chopped mint and just enough water to cover, into a heavy bottomed pan.
Bring to boil and cook until soft and pulped.
Transfer the pulp into muslin cloth/bag lined colander/sieve, placed over a large bowl. Leave to drip for 10-12 hours or overnight. Do not squeeze, or you will loose transparency.
Measure the juice and warm (not boil) it in a heavy bottomed pan.
Add 500 gm. sugar for each 500 ml. of juice and dissolve on low temperature.
Add lemon juice, bring to boil and cook briskly for 10 - 15 minutes, or until setting point* is reached.
Add mint leaves from step 3 and green colour, if used (I don't). Stir them in.
Rest it for a 10 minutes, this makes sure that mint leaves remain suspended in the jelly.
Bottle**, label and store.
Notes
Setting point*; a) Allow the jam to sheet (drop) from a wooden paddle or a large spoon. If it partly congeals and breaks/drops from it in triangles, last triangle remaining suspended for 8-10 seconds, setting point is reached. b) Chill a couple of saucers in the freezer. Place one teaspoon of jam on the saucer, allow it to cool for a minute and then part it with a finger. If it remains parted or skin crinkles, it is ready to set. c) Pick a little jelly on the tip of you index finger from the ladle, and stretch it between finger and thumb. If you get one wire pulling out, it is ready. Allow it to cool just a little before bottling. d) A temperature of 221? F to 222? F (104?-105? C approximately) is reached. All thermometers are not accurate. Therefore, carry out other tests for setting point as well. Stop boiling as this is the setting point.
**Bottling; Clean jar in a dish washer or in boiling water and allow to drain and dry. Place jars on a wooden/heat proof surface. Place a spoon in the jar (it stops the jar from cracking), and fill all jars. Close the screw top lids and turn the jars up-side-down. This creates a better seal and prevents mould formation; a tip from Ian Hoar. Allow to cool. Label each jar, including date and store.
