MINT JELLY

To prepare “apple-juice’’ — use the
following proportions: 1 lb. green apples
to 1 cup water. Wash fresh mint leaves
thoroughly. To 1 cup mint leaves
(packed solidly) add 1 cup boiling
water; set the mixture on the back of
the range and steep for 1 hour. Lay a
piece of cheesecloth over a bowl, pour
the steeped mint leaves into it, twist
the ends of the cheesecloth and press
out all moisture. To 1 cup concentrated
apple juice add 2 tbsp. mint juice. If
mint flavor is not sufficiently pronounced
add a drop or two of mint extract. Use
¥4 cup sugar to each cup of juice, and
boil the mixture rapidly until the jelly
test can be obtained. Just before it is
poured into the sterilized glasses, color

GRAPE JELLY WITHOUT BOILING

1 basket Concord grapes’ 1 cup water

Wash and stem grapes, add the
water and simmer gently until the
grapes are mushy. Drain through a
jelly bag to extract the juice. Let the
juice stand overnight in a covered con-
tainer in the refrigerator. This allows the
crystals commonly found in grape jelly
to form and settle out. Pour the juice off
carefully and strain through a triple
thickness of cheesecloth. Measure the
juice (you should have about 5 cups).
Measure the sugar—l'% cups to every
cup of juice. Do not try to use less sugar
or you will not produce a jelly. Heat
the juice to just below boiling; place
over a pan of hot water to keep it hot.
Stir in the sugar and continue stirring

it green with vegetable coloring. until it is dissolved. Pour into sterile

jelly glasses and seal with parawax.
Yield: 12 jelly glasses.

CANNING WITH HONEY AND CORN SYRUP

Corn syrup or honey may be used in place of all or a part
of the sugar used in canning, jelly making, preserving and
pickling. The milder flavored honeys are probably more com-
patible with the less tart fruits for making sauces and jellies. The
stronger flavored honeys, particularly those with a spicy flavor,
are excellent for pickling purposes and conserves made from tart
fruits like gooseberries and rhubarb.

An all-honey syrup is naturally darker than a sugar syrup.
Such a syrup tends to darken the lighter colored fruits, as peaches
and pears, when canned for sauce. However, the original fruit
flavor is intensified. If one prefers a lesser degree of the original
flavor of the fruit, it is better to replace only from one-fourth to
one-half of the sugar ordinarily used with the honey.

In using honey, two precautions should be observed.

1. Since honey has a tendency to foam considerably when
heated, there is some element of danger of the product “cooking
over’ at the beginning of the cooking period if a large enough
preserving keitle is not used or the syrup not carefully watched.

2. Since honey and corn syrup are part water, it is necessary
to cook the product in which it is used slightly longer in order to
obtain the desired consistency.

Syrup—Proportions: 1 cup honey or corn syrup, 2 cups water.

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