I’ve been spending my fall travelling back and forth to Kansas to see my parents. When I returned home a few weeks ago I realized that I had better do something with all the pomegranates on my trees or they’d all end up being eaten by our chickens. Looks like it’s time to make more pomegranate jelly!
I remember from the last time that I made jelly that I had a batch that didn’t set-up, so I had to rescue it by making it over again with no sugar / low sugar pectin. So it seems logical too me that I should just use that type of pectin to begin with… I am sure glad that I made that decision- over the next few days I made 5 different batches and they all worked perfectly! This is what I will use from now on!
When I picked the fruit, there were some that had actually split open. This is supposedly caused by inconsistent watering (there was a lot of that this year!) But the fruit inside was ruby red and so far- undiscovered by the local birds. All the fruit got a good soak in water, then gently cut open with a knife. Then,using the handle of the knife- give the skin a few good raps and the arils will start falling out into your collection bowl.
Process through a food mill to extract the juice. This year I got over 3 quarts. Feed the seeds to the chickens if you have any… they’ll love it!
Pomegranate Jelly Version 2.0
Ingredients:
- 3.5 cups pomegranate juice
- 1 box Sure-Jell no sugar pectin
- 1/2 tablespoon butter
- 5 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
In large saucepan add the juice, whisk in the pectin and add the butter to keep the foam down. Heat to a full boil, so that when you stir the jelly it still bubbles.
Add the sugar and lemon juice and return to a full boil. Fill half pint jars and can in water bath for 10 minutes. Makes 6.5 to 7 jars
My jelly was so successful that I decided to make two other flavors. The first was blackberry- one of my favorites. The second one was an experimental Cinnamon Apple Jelly that really turned out good! Its a very simple recipe, but worthy of sharing with friends and family this Christmas season! I will share that recipe in my next post…
Dan
Cast Iron Dan 
That looks so tasty! I love pomegranate(not counting the seeds) but it is so expensive here in Sweden, usually a couple of dollars each.
They can be 1 or 2 dollars here too. I’m glad that I have a couple of pomegranate trees in ther backyard!
Ive got to plant some of these this year. Looks good!
This looks really good. I wish we could grow pomegranates here but we don’t have the warm weather.