Cactus jelly

[Sonoran Dave]

Tried some a few years ago and liked it

Decided to try and make my own.

First, get to where there are ripe prickly pear cactus

You want the dark red ones

Picked a 5 gallon bucket in no time flat

[Sonoran Dave]

Then you boil a kettle full for an hour or so

You strain everything through a double layer of kitchen towel.

Then you bring your juice with sugar and pectin, to a rolling boil

After boiling pour it in jars and can it.

By happy accident, the first batch only got half the needed pectin...and I wound up with a delicious sryup

Have not tried it over flapjacks yet, but looking forward to it. I did try it on some vanilla ice cream...DIVINE

All in all, a worthwhile project that really didn't require that much effort. Out of 5 gallons of pears, ended up with 22 jars of jelly and 5 of syrup.

Edited September 19, 2014 by ArcticDave

[azblackbird]

BTDT with the jelly/syrup… either way it's all good.

[devilishjim]

Making me hungry now !!!

[weaver hillbille]

The ratio of sugar and pectin to 5 gallonbucket of cactus apples is?

Don't sweat the syrup you made as you admit to not enough pectin or you didn't draw out enough water( also an important variable-besides not going much over 218F .

Past that point, I have found, the jelly starts to get sticky, gummy and carmelized.

After a few failures ,I read up on pectin and found that the sugar /pectin ratio is key and of course is also tied to the sweetness of the fruit,,

,,,,,,,,,as well as the acidity of the mix( notice some jelly recipes call out a bit of lemon juice?),,,,

,,,,,,,as well as the amount of water evaporated off. Mess up a variable, and your jelly can get smoked, turned into taffy,,not jell at all or some other unjelly substance.

SO there's alot of variables in play and all related. Low and slow with a good candy thermometer helps me.

how much juice did you end up with before adding sugar and pectin and in what quantities?

Wanna trade for homegrown pomegranate jelly?

Had trees since I was a kid so I acquired the taste and recipe long ago . Parents had trees. And Dad made jelly.

[weaver hillbille]

Do you do the spoon drop test?

I can't tell you how many times I've done this test only to have the jelly go back to running off the spoon instead of the drop sticking to it and hanging.

I usually keep doing the test for anywhere from 5-10 minutes after I get the first good "hanger"- even putting a spoon of jelly in the freezer for a few to really tell if it'll really jell.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/jelly_point.html

[Sonoran Dave]

Good link Weaver! I'll try that on the next batch. Picked another bucket yesterday.

For each batch used:

6 1/2 cups of cactus juice

7 1/2 cups of sugar

2 tbsp of lemon juice

About 2 1/2 packages of powdered pectin

Edited September 19, 2014 by ArcticDave

[homefire]

As a kid in Tucson we made it all the time. Just boil down the Juice and for every quart add a spoon of Jell-O Brand Neat Jell-O. That's the Flavorless Jell-O. If you want it to taste right DON'T add sugar. Look in the Canning Department.

Edited September 19, 2014 by homefire