I am overrun with a second flush of raspberries. I have been busy the past few days making three different recipes that I will share with you today.
Raspberry Jam
8 cups of raspberries
4 cups of white sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice (bottled )
Transfer the berries and sugar to a large saucepan. Then use a potato masher (or a fork) to gently crush the berries, leaving some whole if preferred.
Add the lemon juice and stir. Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly to ensure the sugar dissolves and the jam doesn't stick to the pan.
As foam appears on the top of the jam, use a spoon to scoop it away, simmering until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 15-20 minutes).
Ladle the hot jam into the hot jars, leaving about ¼-inch headspace (0.5 cm). Tap the jar against your kitchen surface and/or use a knife to remove any air bubbles in the jam.
Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat, add a lid and band, and allow them to process for 10 minutes
Raspberry Jalapeno Jelly
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
½ cup chopped green bell pepper
¼ cup chopped jalapeno pepper
3 cups white sugar
¾ cup apple cider vinegar
3 oz. sure-jell
Sterilize jars and lids by immersing in boiling water for at least 5 minutes.
In a saucepan, combine the raspberries, bell pepper, and jalapeno peppers with the sugar and cider vinegar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and boil rapidly for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.
Stir in the sure-jel and run the mixture through a strainer or food mill to remove all the bits of peppers and the raspberry seeds.
Pour the strained liquid into jars, seal with lids and bands, and process for 15 minutes in a water bath canner.
*The original recipe called for liquid pectin, however, I replaced it with sure-jel for a thicker jelly. SOURCE
This jelly is delicious on cream cheese and crackers and I have even used a little of it to baste chicken and pork when barbecuing. It really gives your meat a little extra zip.
Raspberry Syrup
1 pound of raspberries
2 cups water
1 cup of sugar
Place the raspberries in a medium saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a medium simmer and let the raspberries cook for about 20 minutes. Skim any foam that rises to the top.
Remove from heat. Strain the raspberry liquid through a fine mesh strainer into another clean pot, separating the solid berries from the liquid. DO NOT press down on the solids to extract more juice; it's tempting, but doing this will make your raspberry syrup cloudy.
Once the raspberry liquid has been strained, discard the solid berries. Add 2 cups of sugar to the raspberry liquid. Bring back to a boil, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar into the syrup. Let the syrup simmer for 5 minutes till the sugar is completely dissolved, skimming any additional foam that rises to the top.
Ladle the hot syrup into hot jars, leaving about ¼-inch headspace (0.5 cm). Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
SOURCE
If you would like the syrup a little thicker you can cook it down longer and it will be a great addition to pancakes and waffles instead of maple syrup.
This is wonderful to add flavor to your cocktails, lemonade, or seltzer soda. Some people even add a little to coffee, but, I have not tried that yet.
All in all it was a very productive couple of days making use of the extra raspberries. I did end up putting many of them onto a tray and freezing them for later use. I do like to add them to my muffins sometimes.
Until next time, this is Sunscape
Sun. Scape. Ing Your Day
