Green Rosie
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Lemon in jam/jelly recipeI'm just about to make some blackberry jelly and I've only half the amount of lemon juice as suggested in the recipe. Can I put anything else in to help it set or shall I just accept it may be a bit runny?
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yummersetter
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(if this isn't a stoopid thing to say) could you use half the blackberries?
I think lemon juice in jam is magic, not because of how it makes it set, but because it's so tasty and cuts the sugary sweetness and enhances the flavour of the fruit
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Green Rosie
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I had already defrosted the blackberries before the lack of lemons became apparent. I've cooked and strained them with half the necessary juice but at the rate I'm going I'll not get the jelly made 'til tomorrow when I can borrow some from a friend.
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Bugs
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I think blackberries are a "medium" setting fruit, so nothing like strawberries for turning in to all juice and lumps. We don't use any lemon at all and get a nice soft but still distinctly jammy jam, I would say go right ahead and make it with the juice you have and it'll probably be softish but quite usable.
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gil
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If you're making blackberry jelly, how about stewing a bit of apple and straining that through the jelly bag as well. 1 apple should be plenty; cookers better than eaters.
Ditto redcurrant juice - a few oz currants and enough water to cover, cooked, mashed and through the bag.
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Green Rosie
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Small boy picked all my young bramleys a couple of weeks ago and I made them into apple jelly - could I add a pot of that?
Just seen your suggestion about redcurrants - I've got some in the freezer 
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gil
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| Green Rosie wrote: | | Just seen your suggestion about redcurrants - I've got some in the freezer |
Yes, and frozen redcurrants work just as well as fresh
Which means you can freeze some and keep them till the following year to use to set strawberry jam [given that strawbs always ripe before redcurrants]
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otatop
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I'm just about to make some loganberry jelly. Instead of water I plan to use apple "stock" made with the peel and cores from pie-making at the weekend. Would it be worth keeping some apple water in the freezer? How long would it keep?
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gil
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| otatop wrote: | | I'm just about to make some loganberry jelly. Instead of water I plan to use apple "stock" made with the peel and cores from pie-making at the weekend. Would it be worth keeping some apple water in the freezer? How long would it keep? |
Why not just freeze the peel and cores ? Takes up less space; less mess in the event of a freezer defrost. I do that with lemon peels too. Should keep for up to a year, I reckon.
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otatop
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Thanks Gil. A much better idea - and much less easy to mistake for chicken stock later!
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Green Rosie
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Well I eventually got around to turning the strained blackberry juice into jelly without any extra additions because:
1. We ate my friends last remaining lemon with the pancakes she made (first time she'd had lemon and sugar and it went down very well
2. I couldn't find the redcurrants in the mess that is the freezer
3. It seemed a pity to "waste" a jar of apple jelly.
And the result - it set fine 
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otatop
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| Green Rosie wrote: |
And the result - it set fine |
So did mine. One jar is set aside to swap with a work colleague for a quantity of shallots.
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