At present I’m going to indicate you learn how to make your individual preserved jelly at house utilizing prickly pears you picked your self. The prickly pear jelly is a superb topper to make use of as a glaze for salmon, as a facet on a charcuterie board, or simply plain on toast. These explicit fruits I bought from the entrance yard of my mum or dad’s home in North Georgia. Whereas I’m undecided of the precise species, I do know all of the prickly pear fruit from the Opuntia genus of cacti are edible. This genus has many species that develop everywhere in the North American continent with some being cold-tolerant sufficient to outlive as far north as Massachusetts. So if the prickly pears that develop close to you look completely different don’t fear, the method must be about the identical. The very first thing I’ve to let you know is to make use of tongs when choosing the prickly pears, they’ve glochid thorns that appear to be hairs however stick you terribly.
I bought about 40 prickly pears from this patch of cactus, which is actually lots. You need the fruit to be very ripe, attempt to keep away from any fruits with quite a lot of inexperienced coloring. I take advantage of a disposable paper bag to retailer these as I’m choosing them as a result of these thorns are a menace.
The following step after choosing all of the fruit is to torch them to burn off the glochid thorns. I’ve heard that boiling them will soften the thorns so that you don’t have to do that step, however I want to do it so I don’t need to threat getting thorns in me after I prep them for boiling. Put the prickly pears onto a steel grate someplace that’s warmth/flame resistant. I’ve seen individuals use oven grates and trays earlier than, I used my grill this time. You simply need to tae your torch and burn off the hairy-looking elements. Simply sufficient to burn the thorns and hairs off however not a lot that the pores and skin splits and blisters. The pear skins will shine when they’re torched proper.
After burning off all of the thorns with the torch, I give them a rinse in some chilly water to clean off mud and soot from the torching course of. After which I trim off the tops and bottoms of the pears to complete the cleansing of the fruit.
With the cleaned and trimmed pears, I simply reduce them in half and positioned them in an enormous inventory pot. I’ve seen others who simply boil them entire as nicely, however I want halving them earlier than the boil for juice extraction. I’ve additionally seen different individuals use meals mills to juice the pears with out boiling as nicely. However for making jelly, I’ll follow my boiling methodology. Cowl the halved prickly pears with water and put them on warmth to boil.
You need to boil the prickly pears till the fruit begins to go pale as proven beneath, this took about half-hour. After which pull them off the warmth and allow them to cool some. After the juice in all fairness cool, begin scooping it out of the pot and pressure out the pulp and seeds. This leaves you with accomplished prickly pear juice that you should use for different recipes or simply drink. However that’s not our closing product for at this time.
The very first thing you might want to do earlier than prepping the prickly pear juice is to wash and sanitize all of your canning jars. I simply run my stuff within the dishwasher with excessive warmth first, then place all of the jars into an enormous pot of boiling water for quarter-hour to sanitize them. Then simply depart the jars within the water until you’re able to fill them with the jelly.
To make the prickly pear jelly, take 4 cups of the prickly pear juice and add it to a chrome steel saucepan. Measure out 4 cups of sugar and a further 1 cup of sugar individually, 2 cups of lemon juice, and 9 tablespoons of Ball RealFruit Low or No Sugar Flex Batch Pectin. The prickly pear juice from at the least my patch isn’t very candy in comparison with different fruit juices, so I add within the 4 cups of sugar first because it heats up. I additionally add within the two cups of lemon juice at this level as nicely. You have to add a 1/2 cup of lemon juice for each cup of prickly pear juice to decrease the pH to a protected degree for canning.
As soon as the sugar is all melted begin steadily including within the pectin powder, stirring it in nicely as you go. You don’t need any clumps. Because the pectin is all combined in you need to boil the jelly combination for at the least a stable minute at a rolling boil to activate the pectin. After that minute flip off the warmth and add within the final cup of sugar, mixing until it’s all dissolved. Take it off the warmth after and its time to begin jarring the jelly.
Take your jelly and begin ladling it into the sterilized canning jars. Be certain that to wipe off the edges of the jars with a clear material after which put a lid on the jelly jars. You need the lids finger tight. You may actually cease at this level if you need, however the prickly pear jelly at this level is just not shelf-stable and have to be saved within the fridge until you devour it. To can it and have it shelf secure you need to get a canning boiler with a rack. You have to have sufficient water to cowl all of the jars with at the least an inch of water. Have some boiling water readily available individually in case the water degree is simply too low whenever you add the jars.
As soon as the water is boiling add the rack of jars into the water and canopy the pot with the lid, boil for at the least 10 minutes however adjust depending on altitude. As soon as the ten minutes is completed flip off the warmth and take off the lid, let the canner cool off for five minutes earlier than pulling the cans out of the water. Place them on the counter and allow them to cool, don’t tighten the lid bands. As they begin cooling you’ll hear the lids pop as a correct seal varieties. You need to test as nicely ensuring the middle of the lids are concave and don’t pop again up. If that’s the case the prickly pear jelly is now sealed and shelf-stable for a yr. If not you possibly can attempt to reseal it within the canner once more, or simply eat it first and preserve it within the fridge.
Keep in mind it’s essential to refrigerate the jelly when you open it. This isn’t an excessively candy jam, with good earthy taste from the prickly pears and a slight tang from the lemon juice. Goes nice with gruyere cheese and capicola, or as glaze base for baked or grilled salmon.
