Apple pepper herb jelly, a stunningly artful jelly that is perfect accompaniment with a sharp cheese or as a glaze.
Prep Time1 hourhr
Cook Time2 hourshrs
Total Time14 hourshrs
Author: Matt
Ingredients
2KGof apples of your choice
Juice of one lemon
5Lof water
2KGof sugar
3chillies chopped with most seeds removedto taste
1cupof lightly packed cilantro and parsleychopped including stems.
Instructions
(Recipe adapted from the Good Food Channel) Roughly chop the apples and place into a LARGE pot.
Add the lemon juice and cover the contents with water. Bring this to the boil and then reduce the heat so the whole mixture simmers for just shy of two hours. The apples will look puffy, but avoid the temptation to stir this mixture. Doing so will only make your final product cloudy.
You need to strain the mixture, I use a jelly bag but muslin (with a sieve) will work too. Ensure this is sterilized by scalding it in boiling water. Suspend this strainer above a large bowl, capable of holding all the liquid. Slowly pour the contents of your pot into the strainer, again don’t squeeze or push the pulp. This will take awhile, probably all day or night.
When the liquid is done, measure the final liquid. For each 600ml, you will be adding 450g of sugar. You will also need your chopped herbs and chili. Add these to your liquid and place in a pan. Place several small plates into the freezer.
Slowly warm up the liquid until sugar dissolves, then boil. Depending on how the liquid looks, I occasionally use this opportunity to add a prepared gelatin sheet or pectin, but it is not always needed. Either way, boiling the liquid for 10-30min will help you achieve a jelly like consistency. To test this, you use you those frozen plates. Take a small spoon of liquid and place onto the frozen plate. If it starts to solidify, then you have reached the proper state. This is because the jelly will thicken when cooled.
When finished, you need to skim off the foam that has risen to the top of the liquid. This then needs to be portioned out into sterilized jars (see some tips for that here). Just before you place the lid, give the mixture a stir to distribute the chili and herb pieces. Let lidded jars rest for at least a day if not more to have the jelly set.