Unexpected Success

As we canned our applesauce, we drained off some of the liquid that cooks out of the apples. Other years my mom had mentioned that apple jelly could be made from this, but usually we are so done with canning after a day of applesauce that we don't bother. This year Keith wanted to give it a try.

We had about 3 quarts of the apple liquid, which was much thicker and sweeter than apple juice. I read over the recipe for apple jelly in my canning book, and did the calculations to triple the recipe. But that meant I would be using over 10 cups of sugar. Considering the recipe called for apple juice, and what I had was much more concentrated, I opted to cut the sugar in half. Which the book says is a major no-no.

As Keith and I took turns stirring the pot for the next hour, waiting for the mixture to gel, I envisioned having to call this post "Apple Fail." But, I figured mostly we wanted the jelly to mix into yogurt and oatmeal, so even if it was runny it would be ok.

At the one hour mark, I was tired of stirring and expecting Elliott to be up from his nap any moment and figured it was now-or-never to get it into jars and can it. Much to my delight, as I pulled it from the heat and started to ladle the jelly into jars, it thickened up. It might actually be a bit too thick really, as we have found it is a little hard to spread on toast.

But gosh it's pretty, isn't it?