Friday, November 18, 2011

Canning and Satsuma Jelly

We were wondering, with the drought we have had and all, if the poor, little, green knots hanging on our trees would ever plump up and ripen up into juicy satsumas. 

Well, they FINALLY did and they are DELICIOUS! The kiddos are eating them like crazy and there are peelings all over the yard. We have already bagged up lots to give away to family and friends and last night....we turned some into Satsuma jelly. YUM!



Satsuma Jelly Recipe

4 cups satsuma juice
2 teaspoons lemon juice
5 cups sugar
1 package sure-jell

1) Bring satsuma juice, lemon juice, and sure-jell to boil in a high sided sauce pot. Stir continuously.
2) When you get a hard boil that will not stir down, time for 1 minute and stir continuously.
3) Add sugar and bring to hard rolling boil again stirring continuously for 1 minute.
4) Pour into sanitized jelly jars, then place sanitized lid and rings on jars. Screw down hand tight.
5) Process in boiling water for 10 minutes.
6) Remove from boiling water. Place on a towel lined surface and allow to cool. Once cool, let sit overnight. 
7) Check for proper seal by depressing lid. If lid pops, refrigerate and use. For those sealed properly, label and place in a dark, cool place.

*This recipe makes enough for 6 (8-ounce) Mason jars*


Check out the short Canning 101 video below if you are unsure about the whole canning process. It really is easier than you think! 

(We don't have a wire rack like the lady uses in the video. A hand towel or anything that raises up the jars a bit to keep them from setting on the bottom of the pot will create a good enough barrier.)

16 comments:

  1. I've never had Satsuma jelly. Is it any good?

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    1. It's some of the best jelly you'll ever taste
      ��

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  2. Do you know how many satsumas you used to yield 4 cups of juice? (approximately) I'd like to buy some at the farmer's market and try this!

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  3. We picked some up in Pontchatoula on New Year's Eve - it is wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I've got to add this to my list of jellies and jams that I make - LOVE IT

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    1. I just had some delivered from Loranger and they have been tested to be the sweetest in southern Louisiana. Can't wait to to make this jelly.

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    2. Our plants came from Louisiana several years ago. They are some of the sweetest I have ever tasted!

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  4. I thought I replied to this comment, but I don't see it. With the type of juicer we have, we used about 16 satsumas for 4 cups of juice.

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  5. We ended up making a 2nd batch later on, but this time, we used nearly equal amounts of satsuma juice and sugar. It tasted great. Next year, we may try to scale back on the sugar even more to see if we notice any big differences.

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  6. I don't have a juicer would this world with and juiced?

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  7. Ahh Thats work with hand juiced!*

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  8. Sorry I have not responded...I somehow missed this comment. Yes, it will work if you hand juice them. We did this our first year and it was a lot of work (on your hands), but very doable. Wait until the latest you possibly can to pick the satsumas. The larger and softer they are, the easier they will be to juice by hand. It takes more satsumas to get enough juice if you juice by hand vs a juicer too.

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  9. We are playing around with the sugar amounts. We can reduce the sugar by 1/2 a cup (so, down to 4.5 cups) and we can't really tell a difference in taste/sweetness :)

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  10. I made the recipe exactly as shown yesterday afternoon. Now the jelly is still in a liquid state in the canning jars. What do you think went wrong?
    Thanks,
    Terri

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    1. I'm not sure :( I made my jelly using this same recipe last month and everything jelled fine. It usually starts to jell within the first few hours of completing a batch. I don't know if this matters, but I use the 100% natural Sure-Jell premium fruit pectin brand. I have a friend who makes jelly and they like theirs a little more liquidy than jelly so they add more fruit juice. If you did 4 cups juice to 5 cups sugar, it should have jelled so long as you let everything boil as indicated. I know the rolling boil that won't stir down is very important as is the 10 minutes of boiling once the jars are lidded and back in the pot. Could water have gotten in the jars during the final 10 minute boiling process? I'm sorry, I know how frustrating it can be to work so hard on something only for it not to turn out right.

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