Double Lemonade Jelly

Sometimes, I like a citrus jelly that isn't quite as over the top as marmalade.  

Don't get me wrong, I love marmalade.   I really love marmalade.   But marmalade is a bit labor intensive. 

Plus, it's hot out.  

Plus, I'm busy.  

Plus, lemonade sounds good. 

Plus I have that lemon verbena simple syrup that I can use in jelly.  

Plus, I have my cute little zester and a couple of lemons hanging around. 

What to do, what to do, what to do....

Double Lemonade Jelly.  

It's lighter, brighter and easier than marmalade,  but just as fun.

Plus, it has those cute little confetti strips of zest in it and I love those!

Double Lemonade Jelly

• 2 cups cold water
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup [rounded] Dutch Jell All Natural Lite pectin
• 1 cup lemon verbena simple syrup

Dissolve the pectin in the cold water in a pot with the lemon juice and zest.  Bring to a boil.  Stir constantly and bring to a full rolling boil that you can't stir down.  Boil hard for 1 minute.  Add the simple syrup.  Bring back to a full rolling boil and boil for one minute.  Ladle into clean dry jars.  Process for canning.   Makes 1 1/2 - 2 pints. 

Notes:  Invest in a zester that you like.   They're not very expensive and they'll save you oodles of time and aggravation.  

You can use more sugar in this recipe if you like.  Try adding 1 cup of white sugar to the recipe if you want it sweeter.

Mango Bay Lime Jam

The mangoes are still beautiful and I've got a lot of simple herb syrups to use in jam.   It's time to use them together. 

Mango Lime Bay Jam sounds like a party in a jar, doesn't it?

Dude. Break out those steel drums!

I used some of my bay syrup to flavor this jam.  All you do is substitute the syrup for some or all of the sugar in the recipe.    Simple.   Just like the syrup.

You can also use bay syrup to flavor your favorite drinks - alcoholic or not.   A spoonful of this stuff in fizzy water will do wonders for your stress level.    I know.

Coming up later in the week, we'll have Double Lemonade Jelly and Apricot Anise Hyssop Jam.

Mango Lime Bay Jam

• 4 cups chopped and crushed mango
• 1/2 cup [or more] of cold water so that the mango doesn't stick to the pan when you start heating things up.
• 4 Tablespoons Dutch Jell All Natural Lite pectin
• zest of 1 lime
• 1 cup bay syrup

Combine the mango, water, lime zest and pectin in a pot.  Stir well to dissolve the pectin.   Bring to a boil.  Stir constantly until you have a full rolling boil that you can't stir down.   Stir constantly.  Boil for 5 minutes to boil out some of the extra water.  Add the syrup and return to rolling boil.  Stir constantly.  Boil for 1 minute.  Ladle into jars.  Process for canning.  Makes 2.5 pints.

Simple Syrups in Jam

Here's the thing about summer.  It's busy.  Crazy, stupid busy.

There's no such thing as summer vacation around here.   We have the mowing and the garden and the berries and the mowing and the building and the working and the mowing and the garden and the canning and the jams and the garden and the herbs and the mowing and ....

You get the idea. 

Anise hyssop

I get all these great herbs just at the wrong time for me to do anything with them.  The herbs are ready in June and July and I may not have time to make jam with them until maybe six weeks later.   
They don't do so well in the fridge for six weeks.   Or in a vase.   I could dry them, but that's a lot of work itself and somehow things just taste better if you can use the fresh herbs.  

Lemon verbena

And so here's the thing about herbs for jam.    You can capture that fresh flavor and hang onto it for a few months by making simple syrups with the herbs.   You can water or steam bath the syrup in jars to seal it up and then you can use it in January if you want to and it will still be fabulous.  





Bay

I made three kinds of simple syrup this year:  anise hyssop, lemon verbena and bay.   I made jam with each of them and you are going to love it! 

But first, I need to tell you how I made the simple syrups.

It's simple.   That's why they're called simple syrups. 

Simple Herb Syrups

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup herb leaves

Combine everything in a small pot.  Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil. Strain the herbs out.  Put in a jar and seal if you want to keep it indefinitely.   These will keep nicely on your counter for a few days, or in the fridge for a few weeks if you don't want to seal them. 

They're so pretty!

Here's the bonus!  

You can use these to flavor all kinds of stuff, like cakes and pies and trifles and as meat glazes or over fruit in tarts.   Yep. 

You can use them straight over ice cream or in drinks, too. 



Apple Cider Syrup

I don't have a good pic of this because we eat it too fast.    It's delicious on pumpkin pancakes and plain pancakes with Cranberry Banana Jam [Recipe tomorrow!]. 

Yum.  

Apple Cider Syrup

• 3/4 cup apple cider or apple juice
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg

Combine the cinnamon and nutmeg with the brown sugar in a cold saucepan.   Mix well.  Turn on the heat.   Add the rest of the ingredients and heat to boiling.   The longer you simmer it, the thicker it will get, but it's good right away.   I never boil it very long.