Making Jelly

For several years now, I've been making jellies and marinades for my husband to sell.  I learned to make blackberry jelly growing up and it's not a difficult process, but doing this on a large scale basis to sell has been an experience.

Jelly is basically a mixture of fruit juice and sugar to form a syrup that is thickened and jelled with the addition of pectin.  In the past, it was a way to add fruit to the winter diet, especially fruits that could not be overwintered in a root cellar or cold storage.  It is healthier to eat the whole fruit, but used in moderation, jelly is a welcome addition to the diet.

We use most jellies on toast or biscuits.  A nice snack/appetizer consists of a cracker, a dallop of cream cheese, and a small topping of jelly, especially jalapeno or moonshine jelly.  You can also add a heaping spoonful of jalapeno jelly to the pot when heating peas or beans or greens.

Most people buy the little boxes of pectin at the grocery/discount store.  I began using Pomona pectin (available online)  when I first started making jelly in bulk.  It is a bulk pectin; you can use little or even no added sugar; and it is possible to make multiple batches at once using this pectin.  However, in the amounts I needed, it eventually wasn't cost effective enough for my purposes. 

Now I purchase a bulk pectin from nuts.com.  The downside is that I can only prepare one small batch at a time with this pectin.  But the cost savings make it worth while to me.

We currently make blackberry, blueberry, peach, watermelon, moonshine, jalapeno, mt dew, orange delight, and pineapple jellies.  During the fall season, we add in candy apple and grape jelly.