Raspberry Jelly

This is the time of year when I clean out my freezer ahead of the coming fruit season. I use up any frozen fruit from last year, to make room for the fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, plums and apricots that I will pick and freeze during the summer. I find that it is most convenient for me to freeze the berries in bags, and then make my jam fresh during the winter, as we need it.

Recently I found some raspberries in my freezer and decided to make jelly to share with my family and to give away as gifts to friends.

I poured about five cups of raspberries into a large pot (10 inches/25 cm diameter), added about an inch/2.5 cm of water to the pot and set the pot to boil. After boiling a minute, I set the pot to cool. Then, when the mixture was cooled, I prepared a jelly bag out of three layers of cheese cloth. I laid the layers of cloth into a large bowl, poured the fruit mixture into the bowl, pulled all the ends together, tied a knot with cotton string and hung the fruit to drip into the large bowl overnight. I did not squeeze the cheesecloth bag­—to keep the juice clear and bright.

I followed the Certo recipe instructions and made two batches. Each batch required 4 cups/1 liter juice, 1 box of Certo crystals, and 5 ½ cups/1.375 L granulated sugar. This yielded approximately 7 cups/1.75 L jelly.

The Certo instructions told me to bring the juice with the Certo powder to a rolling boil, then add the sugar and bring this mixture to another rolling boil—letting this boil exactly one minute. The small jelly jars must be sterilized and dried thoroughly. I used new lids which were immersed in a small bowl of boiling water; then dried so there was no moisture on them. I poured the hot jelly into the prepared jars and screwed on the lids until they were tight. As the jars cooled they were sealed.

Enjoy your jelly and share it with friends. The beautiful, bright red raspberry jelly makes a great gift, since everyone appreciates the sweet, tangy flavour as well as the colour of this jelly.