Although it is getting a bit late in the season if you still have a glut of cooking apples, as we do, you could try making some herb jellies. These can be a bit fiddly but the end result is very satisfying.
Jellies are similar to jams but instead of using the whole fruit and adding sugar you use only the juice. There are various methods of obtaining the juice, some of which require a jelly straining bag and an overnight wait whilst the fruit strains through the bag. There is, however, a less time consuming way.
To start, wash and roughly chop your apples – there is no need to peel or core them. Use as many as you have space for – the more apples the more juice. Put a litre of water into a saucepan and put the fruit into a steamer on top of the saucepan. Put the lid on. Steam the fruit until all you are left with is a fruit pulp in the top of the steamer. During this time the juice will have dripped through into the saucepan below. Once you have turned off the heat leave the steamed fruit to stand for a while so that every available drop of juice drips through.
Once you have extracted your juice put a muslin cloth (or an old boiled teatowel or pillowcase) over the top of another saucepan or basin and pour the juice through it. The cloth will catch and eradicate any small particles of fruit which may have dripped through the steamer holes into the liquid below - if you don't strain the juice the resulting jelly may be cloudy.
Measure out the juice into a large pan. Add to the pan one pound of sugar for every pint of juice. At this point, take a large bunch of your chosen herb, wash and tie it up in a muslin cloth or boiled handkerchief, something of that size. Add the herb bag to the juice and sugar mixture and stir whilst bringing the mixture to the boil. Continue to boil until the setting point has been reached*. This seems to take much longer with jelly than it does with jam so don’t be put off. It also means that more liquid evaporates during the boiling process and so you will not get as much jelly from your apples as you would jam.
You will need quite a lot of your chosen herb to make the jelly taste. Once the setting point has been reached take out and discard the bag of herbs. If you prefer a stronger flavour you can chop up some of the fresh herb and stir it it into your jelly before potting up. The thing to remember here is to let the jelly cool for a few minutes before adding the fresh herbs, otherwise they will all just float to the surface of your pot. Stir in slowly to avoid creating lots of air bubbles and pour into steralised pots whilst still hot.
One final word of warning – be careful if you are adding fresh rosemary to your jelly. This has a very strong flavour and over time a liberal handful of this could leave the end result tasting rather soapy.
* to test for a setting point put a saucer in the fridge to chill. Periodically during boiling put a teaspoon of the liquid onto the saucer and leave in the fridge for a few minutes. Take it out and run your finger through it. If it wrinkles then setting point has been reached. If your jelly is still liquid continue to boil and try again.
