Asian Pear Jelly - Part Two
When we last spoke, I'd made juice for the asian pear jelly. This weekend I measured it out and it was about 3 1/2 cups. I did a fabulous little test I discovered in the Joy of Cooking: you take about a tablespoon of your chilled juice and mix it with a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol. This separates out the natural pectin, so you can see if you need to add more sugar or possibly just some store-bought pectin.
My juice seemed to have enough pectin (we shall see), so I measured out the same volume of white sugar to add to the juice.
Making this jelly was really easy. I simmered the juice for about five minutes, then added the sugar. Up until this point the juice has been kind of cloudy and strange, and I admit I was a little worried about how perfect it would turn out. But when I added the sugar, it cleared up instantly.
I used a candy thermometer to monitor the jelly's progress: about 30 minutes of boiling brought the juice up to 220F, which is the jellying point around here (we measure our height above sea level in inches hereabouts). You can also test it with a spoon, but to be honest that method has never ever worked for me, while the thermometer seems to do OK.
Then into the nice little 1/2-pint jars, and into the water bath for twenty minutes. Honestly, the most tedious part of the whole thing was cleaning the jars and then keeping them and the lids hot while the jelly boiled up.
3 1/2 cups of juice yielded 5 cups of jelly, very clear and lovely. (I'll add photos to this post when I have a bit more time.)