What you see above is the delicious culmination of two days' work--well, sort of. Yesterday, while Vann was gone golfing, Sophie and I picked muscadines from the vines in the One-Tenth-Acre Woods behind our house. Actually, I picked the muscadines while Sophie kept the tigers away. Here's a picture of our harvest.
I have never made jelly in my life, but I decided that's what I wanted to do with the muscadines. I figured I had enough berries for a couple of jars. I searched the internet for muscadine jelly recipes. Although the recipes I found were quite simple, they were all different. Some called for pectin, some didn't. And every one of them use different ratios of sugar to juice. So I figured I'd just wing it.
I didn't own any pectin and didn't want to go to the store. And I knew that pioneer women didn't have any store-bought pectin. So I didn't use any.
After the mashing and cooking and straining and straining some more and straining again (sort of like having a baby, huh?), I had this much juice (see next photo).
Actually, that photo was taken before the final straining. I can see it still has seeds and peelings in it.
I figured I needed about 1 1/2 cups of sugar, so I added 2 cups of sugar and cooked the juice for 30 minutes, till the candy thermometer registered 220 degrees. (All the recipes were consistent about this.)
Then I poured the stuff into two 6 ounce jars (just exactly enough), and here's what I got.
I wasn't quite finished, as I had practically painted the kitchen in mascadine juice and had to clean all that up. But I was right proud of myself when Vann came home and I showed him my two pretty jars of jelly. I felt almost like a pioneer woman whose husband had returned from a buffalo hunt. Sophie was proud too; I told Vann about her keeping away the tigers while I picked the berries.
So this morning I made biscuits (from scratch) and we sampled the jelly. It wasn't quite as jelled as it should be, I guess. But it was very tasty and a beautiful color. I'm going to send the second jar to our neighbor Paul who gave us vegetables out of his garden all summer. He also gave us some of his delicious pepper relish--plus he gives Sophie treats about every day. She loves him a bunch.
Last night was the first meeting of the WOW (Women of Worship) Bible study group for this year. We're studying Beth Moore's "Jesus: The One and Only." Veronica and Frank cooked a delicious dinner for us to kick off the new study. We had grilled pork chops, green beans, corn, and rolls.
After Bible study, I went by Lori's and picked up Miss Daisy Dog. We're keeping her until tomorrow while Lori attends a spiritual retreat with her friend Connie. It was good to see that sweet doggie. Of course, now Sophie's in a pissy mood till Daisy goes home, but she can just get over it.
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On 09/21/2007, Molly said ...
Oh yummy!! If you decide that you don't need the second jar(for any reason), I can give it a good home! It looks wonderful. I did WOW several years ago, when I just had one kidlet. It was a very good study. Wish I had time for it now but with homeschooling and all the animals I barely have time to look up! Maybe one of these days...
Molly
ps, I'll be offline for a few days while we rearrange furniture in our living room. Wooohoo!
On 09/21/2007, britt-sparkled vintage charm said ...
yum!!! that looks great!
On 09/21/2007, debbi said ...
Yum! Did Sophie get any jelly and Biscuits?
On 09/22/2007, Sherri said ...
I did Beth Moores study Jesus a few years back when I had a study to go to :( Weve all moved away now I have no study. Im looking at buying Beths new study and doing it myself.
I wish I could have woods to go to pick berries but no such animal here in Vegas:) haha
On 09/22/2007, Rian said ...
Looks yummy, that biscuit with jelly looks soooo good. Maybe you'll share a photo recipe of how to make biscuits? I love biscuits but have never made them--haven't a clue. I have made jam, though. Tangerine marmalade to be exact. We had a tangerine tree.
On 09/22/2007, Georgina said ...
Deliciuous, what a great combination. Yes, please share your recipe....
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