Highbush Cranberry Jelly

There is a certain satisfaction to picking Highbush cranberries yourself, not only because they are free-appealing to the cheapskate within- but also that my kids got to help me pick and then eat their just rewards. Those little turkeys were right in the bushes with me, “helping” to pick these and said little turkeys have been enjoying this jelly in their sandwiches and on toast.

It really isn’t just for turkey at Thanksgiving, it has that definite taste of cranberry jelly, but is miles away from the commercial stuff.

I am going to have to git out there and pick more berries, because the jelly is a daily demand on toast now. I am going to run out before a single major holiday rolls around!

Ingredients Needed:

8 cups ripe highbush cranberries
7 cups sugar
3 cups water
1 pouch Certo Liquid

Take your eight cups of cranberries and squish them. Which is actually popping them. Son of a gun, I looked like I was blood splattered after this part of the recipe, it looked like something out of a horror movie. The berries do not squish nicely, they explode.

What I finally did was take a cup and use the bottom to mash them, not only did it help keep the bloody cranberry gore splatters from flying everywhere, it popped them better.

Add the water into the pot and boil the berries for 10-15 minutes. This part is stinky, they don’t emit a very pleasant odor when boiled. Or at all actually, when we picked them I actually “smelled” the berries first, so I started looking for them while we walked.

It sounds rather Les Stroud of me, but in the fall when you are walking in the bush and smell something that is worse than your gym shoes? That’s fall ripened cranberries.

Once they are done boiling, strain them through a cheesecloth. I put the cheesecloth over a colander, then over a pot, works beautifully.

Once it cools enough, you can lift it up and squeeze the remainder out of the cheesecloth. (Purists will NOT squeeze as they say it makes the jelly cloudy. Mine was still as clear as a bell, choose whichever you want!)

You will get a good 5 cups of juice, and to this add your sugar. Time to boil it up!

Once it’s boiling, stir in the liquid certo. Bring it back to a full boil, then boil it hard for a minute or two, making sure to stir constantly.

There will be foam on top, so skim it off. I have found that if you let it sit for a couple minutes, the foam forms a skin on top, making it really easy to scoop it all off cleanly.

You do want to try and get it all off, when making a jelly it’s so crystal clear that foam bits show up as “floaties” in the middle of the jar.

Pour into your sterilized jars, leaving about 1/4 inch left at the top. Make sure that before you put the lids on, wipe the rims as clean as possible, because this is is number one reason they won’t seal when you put them in the canning pot and boil them.

These needed to be boiled in the canning pot for 10-15 minutes.

I did a lot of small 125 ml jars to give away with my Christmas baking this year, little tastes for everyone. Not everyone likes cranberry jelly-though I now dare them to try this instead, what a difference- and the 125ml is a perfect size for one meal with a few people who like it on their poultry.

Now, I need to get out to the River Valley and find some more cranberries to pick, so the kids can have some! I hid my little Christmas jars on them and they keep asking for jelly, mean mother that I am.