The Pomona pectin contains recipes. With a simple amount of ingredients like sugar, apple juice/cider, and the Pomona, you don't need to really follow any recipe. Its simply sweeten to taste, add the mint as chopped up leaves, and then follow the package. Wines or other alcohol based liquids will boil out most of the alcohol before its canned.

I saw the recipes on the Pomona website. I'm a little nervous about experimenting as I'm so new to this (and I've never tried Pomona before).

Do you strain out the mint leaves or leave them in the jelly?

Astrid

I strain them out, then you don't have to worry about getting the bits of mint evenly distributed.

There are some 'issues' with Pomona, some tricks to getting the stuff to dissolve quickly and conveniently. Ken uses a blender / food processor to mix it up with some of the juice, before adding it to the rest of the preparing jelly juice, I believe. I haven't tried that, but I'd bet it works well.

I make sure I add all the pectin before I add most of the sugar, I whisk in the Pomona into a cup of sugar, add that while stirring a warming juice, and bring it to a simmer / boil for 5 - 10 minutes, then hold up a drippy spoon and see if I can identify little translucent spots.....if so, boil a bit longer. Then I add the sugar. I never noticed any difference on when adding the calcium.

What you don't want to do is add all the ingredients, sugar included, bring to a boil, and then try to dump the pomona into a boiling liquid. That makes a mess.

When I made apple mint jelly recently, I heated 1 cups chopped mint with the prepared apple juice and then steeped it for a while. (I just put it in the apple juice instead of using water.) Because I like the visual appeal of the floaty mint pieces, I set aside about 1/8 cup of chopped mint to stir in toward the end of the cooking time. I don't mind swirling the jars to suspend the leaves. I wouldn't put too much in the jelly itself because it is a low acid ingredient and I don't think the texture would be great with a lot of leaves. (Seems a little chewy to me.) Because I made the juice from under-ripe apples from our trees (read high in pectin) I didn't use any pectin but just cooked it to the jell point. The recipe also uses some lemon juice. If you want to use the Pomona's, I would follow this recipe up the point of adding the sugar and then follow the pomona's guidelines. You could then vary the amount of sugar you use.

This is from the Blue Book.
Mint Jelly
1 cup firmly packed mint leaves
1 cup boiling water
4 cups apple juice (about 3 pounds apples)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 cups sugar
green food coloring (optional)

Prepare juice following the directions for making juice for jelly.

Put mint leaves in a bowl, add boiling water, let stand 1 hour. Strain mint leaves, pressing to extract juice. Measure 1/2 cup mint water. Combine mint water, apple juice, and lemon juice in a larege saucepot. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Cook to gelling point or until jelly sheet from a spoon (or use cold plate test). Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Stir in a few drops of food coloring, if desired. Ladle hot jelly into hot jars, leaving a 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

When I made it last time, I made a jalapeno variation. I added the 1/8 cup mint leaves, 1/4 cups finely diced jalapenos and 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. It still jelled fine. It is mild and is excellent with lamb.

Which would go better with apple- lemon balm or peppermint?

I really appreciate your input!
Astrid

I remember reading somewhere that regular garden mint is spearmint and that peppermint would taste more like candy. I haven't tasted lemonbalm so I'm not sure I have an opinion.

Absolutely works well. I didn't like the way it would dissolve when following the steps recommended on the package. I found that I need to use at least 2-4 cups of liquid in the blender to dissolve it, as it will be VERY thick like a liquid pectin (Certo). I add the calcium water as the last step as that seems to trigger the thickening while its boiling. Basically, I bring the liquids to a boil, and while its getting up to that level, I pour about 3-4 cups of the liquid, or water into the blender and pour in the powdered Pomona. It will thcken fast, and if its too thick, I thin it out with a bit more water/liquid. By this time, the pot should almost be boiling. I stir in the Pomona and allow it to come to a full boil, then pour in the calcium water (I use the whole packet with a half cup of water). It starts to thicken on the spoon and you can usually know its ready to pour into jars. As a quick test, while its still simmering, I pour a small amount in a a saucer and place in the freezer a minute or so. If it sets up, your ready to can, if not, let it boil a bit more. I make 12+ pint batches using a whole package of the Pomona. I really don't care for mint, so would much prefer the cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and ginger, and add small bits of chopped apple to the jelly. While its cooling I flip the jars over so the bits will be suspended while it sets up.