Mint and Apple Jelly
Apples and mint are a delicious combination.
Mint and apple jelly
is both sweet and savoury and goes especially well with lamb
and also with roast pork and chicken.
Mint does lose its colour
with prolonged cooking,
you may if you wish add a few drops
of green food colouring before bottling, either way it is still delicious.
Makes 2 –3 jars
- 1 kg cooking apples
- 1 litre of water
- 6 sprigs of mint
- 50 g mint leaves — we like garden mint but do experiment
- 800 g sugar or maybe a little more
Coarsely chop the apples and put into a large pan with the sprigs of mint and 750 ml of the water.
Cook gently over a low heat until the apples are soft and fluffy. Leave to cool for 30 minutes.
Tip the apple pulp into a muslin bag and suspend over a bowl to drip.
You can use a fine sieve
if you don’t have a bag.
Leave as long as possible — overnight is best for maximum juice extraction -
gently move
the bag from side to side to speed up the juice dripping
but try not to squeeze as this makes
the jelly very cloudy.
Once the pulp in the bag is quite dry, put the remaining 250 ml of water in a pan and
add the 50 g of mint — finely chopped. Bring to the boil and then remove from the heat immediately.
Pour the mint and its water into a measuring jug and add the apple juice.
For each 100 ml of liquid
you will need 80 g of sugar, so for 1 litre you will need 800 g.
Put the minty apple juice into a large pan with the appropriate amount of sugar
and boil
on a medium heat until it reaches setting point, this will take about 40 minutes.
Keep a chilled saucer in the fridge and check periodically by putting a teaspoonful of the jelly
onto the cold saucer to see if it thickens and forms skin.
Pour into warmed sterilised jars.