Compost Heap Jelly

Recipe for: COMPOST HEAP JELLY

Ingredients:

• 500g apple cores & peel
• 500g mixed citrus fruit peel (unwaxed lemon, orange, grapefruit, lime) cut into 1cm shreds
• 900 g granulated sugar
• Juice of 1 orange, lemon or grapefruit

 Method:

1. put all the apple cores & peel and the citrus peel into a heavy pan with about 1.5 litres of water, or enough to cover
2. bring to the boil, then simmer until all the fruit is soft & pulpy (about 45-60 minutes).  Remove from heat.
3. turn the contents of the pan through a scalded jelly bag or muslin cloth & leave to drip overnight
4. do not rush this bit – don’t squeeze the liquid through the bag or the jelly will be cloudy
5. the next day, measure the juice – you will probably have about 1.2 litres
6. put the juice into a clean pan and bring up to the boil
7. add the sugar – 450g of it for every 600 ml of fruit liquid, stirring until dissolved
8. add the orange or lemon or grapefruit juice
9. boil rapidly, without stirring, for 9-10 minutes until setting point is reached
10. skim off any scum with a shallow spoon, then pot & seal into sterilised jars
11. date & label the jars

 What else you need to know:

1. using the skin, cores & stones is a good source of pectin, which helps the jelly to set
2. this is a good, cheap recipe since it uses ingredients which were only bound for the compost heap anyway