How To Make Apple Jelly
This is so easy. If you’ve never made jelly before, this is a good one to try first.
Printer Friendly
Ingredients:
- 6 cups apple cider (no sugar added)
- 4 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 packet (1.75oz) of low-sugar pectin
Yield: 8 – 12oz jars jam
Supplies:
- Large pot for processing (water bath) jars
- canning jars ( I used the 12oz size jars and filled 8 of them, so if you use a different size, just do the math to determine how many jars you’ll need)
- canning rings and lids to fit your jars
- magnetic lid lifter (for removing the lids and rings out of the boiling water)
- canning funnel (used when pouring jam into jar – it keeps the jar rims clean)
- jar lifter ( used to lift jars into and out of boiling water)
- small measuring cup or ladle
First, get your jars, lids, and rings ready. Wash them in warm soapy water, rinse, and then place in a pot large enough so that the water covers them.
Bring to a boil, and then remove pot from heat and set it on your work surface on a hotpad. Don’t drain. Leave jars, lids, and rings in pot. Spread a towel out near the pot.
Pour the apple cider into a large pot.
In a small bowl, mix together the pectin and 1/4 cup sugar. Set aside.
Remove the jars, lids, and rings from the water bath and place on towel. Keep the pot of water.
Stir the pectin mixture into the apple cider, and bring to a full boil over medium to high heat stirring occasionally.
When it reaches a full boil (it continues to boil even when you stir it) stir in the rest of the sugar
and bring back to a full rolling boil.
Boil hard and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and place on a hotpad near the jars.
Skim off the foam with a large spoon, and discard. Place the jar funnel into the first jar, and using a measuring cup or ladle, fill the jar to within a 1/4 inch of the rim. Fill the rest of the jars.
Use a wet paper towel to clean any spills from the jar rims.
Place lids on jars,
and then tighten the rings onto each jar.
Use a hotpad to hold the hot jars when tightening the lids.
Using the jar lifter, return the jars to the large pot of water. Jars should be covered by at least an inch of water.
Place pot on stove and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and boil for 5 minutes if you live at an altitude between 0-1000 feet. (For 1001 – 3000 feet boil 10 minutes. For 3001 to 6000 feet boil 15 minutes. For 6001 to 8000 feet boil 20 minutes. For 8001 to 10,000 boil 25 minutes.)
Remove the pot from the stove, and place near the towel again. Using the jar lifter, remove the jars from the water
and place on the towel.
Allow to cool completely without touching or bumping them. The jar lids should “pop” indicating they have sealed. (See the little hill on the lid? It should disappear.) Any jars that do not seal should be refrigerated.
And you’re done!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxo
My goodness Suzanne, this does sound easy! Thank you for the recipe, and lovely how-to photos. Is apple jelly always made from cider? The more I think about this apple jelly, the more I think about hot biscuits! I’m off to the store, have a great weekend!
I’ve never tried this before but I have made crabapple from a tree in my yard. Fun but very time-consuming. I spice it up by boiling the juice with a cheesecloth bag containing a few whole cloves and a cinnamon stick. That gives it just the right amount of “spice”.
You do seem to thrive on your jelly-making. Kudos to you, Suzanne!! I love reading of your endeavors.
I love apple jelly.. a store owner last week was complaining if he was able to buy cider this year it might just be 10.00 a gallon and he doubt anyone would buy it.. orchard owners are complaining because there are no apples and I have noticed the apples that have been shipped in are almost triple priced..
thinking of biscuits and jelly made my mouth water..
Do you think Splenda could work in place of the sugar?
Yes, use the “no-sugar” type of pectin and instead of 4 1/2 cups sugar, use 4 cups Splenda.
I actually truly love apple jelly, it is my absolute favorite of all the jellies. Well, raspberry is a close second, but ya, jelly on a warm piece of buttered toast!
Thanks Suzanne!
Dear Suzanne,
Last Sunday, I used a small fruit press, and made a little more than 5 gallons of apple cider. On Monday, I made 117 8oz jars of apple jelly.
I followed your recipe very closely, with the exception of using regular “Sure-Jell” instead of the “low sugar” kind. My mother-in-law also suggested I add just about 1/2 teaspoon of butter to each batch to keep the foam down.
Other than that, everything was exactly as you suggested, and went just as you described. It took me about 15 hours from start to finish-including cleanup.
Well, as of today, Thursday, none of the jelly has shown any sign of “Jelling”. However, due to an interruption during my last batch, I “think” I only added 4 cups of cider instead of your recommended 6 cups. Every other batch produced exactly 9 jars, but the last batch only produced 6 jars–That’s why I think I only used 4 cups instead of the 6.
Of all of the 117 8oz jars, ONLY the last 6 “mistake” jars have “mysteriously” jelled.
I really want the jelly, as I want to go to farmer’s markets to sell fruit, vegetables and such.
Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to “Jell my Jelly?”
Thank you so much for having your website and sharing your experiences and expertise.
The recipe i posted was for the low sugar Sure-Jell which calls for about half the sugar as regular Sure Jell. If you used regular Sure Jell, but only half the sugar regular Sure jell calls for, I would guess that’s why it didn’t jell. When you make jelly, it should jell by the time it’s cool which will happen on the same day. Couple years ago I made some jelly that didn’t jell, and so I called it sauce and told everyone that’s what I wanted. Ha!
As for salvaging your un-jelled jelly, all is not lost. Here’s a link that tells you how to turn your sauce into Jelly. Good luck! http://www.pickyourown.org/how_to_fix_runny_jam.htm