1. Pomegranates are high-acid and you'll need a fair amount of sugar (unless using low-sugar pectin) so actually she could use the open-kettle method without health risk. It's what Europeans do.

However, fresh Pomegranate jelly is a good amount of work and open-kettle has a shorter shelf life and a higher risk of mold. Why increase the possibility of wasted effort?

2. The Ball Blue Book has a pomegranate jelly, and it's one of the most common print resources. It doesn't call for lemon juice and I don't see any particular reason for it as Pomegranates are very high-acid and AFAIK, high in pectin. It might improve the flavor but otherwise I can't see it has a function.

3. A jelly should be so clear you can read through it. Clarity is the hallmark of jelly. So there's a lot of waste. If you run the seeds through your juicer (I have no idea if that would work) you'll basically end up with a seedless jam, not a jelly.

You could remove the seeds from the pomegranate, heat them gently to extract more juice, then strain out the seeds, put them in a plastic bag and crush for more juice, then put the whole mixture in a jelly bag to drip. (There are several threads on how various members strain for jelly.)

If you're not bothered by unclear jelly, then use whatever method works for you. I've included a document on pomegranate jelly at the link that provides a method.

4. I can't personally see the benefit of going to all the work to make a jelly from scratch and then adulterate it with a supermarket product. If that were the case, I'd just save myself some work and buy a good brand of 100% unsweetened pomegranate juice and make jelly from that.

I'll bet this jelly is beautiful for the holidays. Good luck and let us know the results.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Fresh Pomegranate Jelly

Thank You Carol! Her husband is Diabetic and we were going to try to find a recipe with no sugar added and I couldn't find one. But your link offered another link to a sugar free recipe!
Thank you and for all your help and insight, I needed it and it's very much appreciated! I'll let you know how it goes :)

~ Amanda

Amanda, let us know, especially about the set. I'd planned to make some for my Pomegranate loving sister as part of her December birthday present, it will be my first try with Pom jelly. I've got the sugar, the pectin, the jars/lids - but not a free morning so far :)

All the recipes I'd found outside BBB too had lemon juice ....

Morz8, my friend and I are planning on canning it during Thanksgiving week break, when our kids are on vacation, so it might be a while :) You might conquer it before we do, but if we do it before then, I'll be sure to let you know!

I'm already planning to add a bit more pectin already since she and I are going for the sugar-free recipe, which also calls for lemon juice too. The more I think about it, lemon juice might be a good addition to the jam :)

Homemade, I did a little more investigating this week and it looks like the lemon also helps to preserve the color - there is a chance pomegranate may turn brown or dark when cooked - and is not for the set alone. I'm going to add lemon.

Here is a link that might be useful: usdavis files pomegranate

Amanda, mine is finished - I have eight 8 oz jars of lovely pomegranate jelly on the counter and they have set.

5 C juice, 5 C sugar, 1/4 C lemon juice (fresh), a box of pectin + a tablespoon more. I was sharply reminded what a time consuming fruit pomegranate is to work with! And I didn't have a full 5 cups of juice when I had finished with them - I bought a quart of Knudson pomegranate juice (organic, no preservatives) to top it off as opposed to buying more fruit, DH loves the juice and will drink it over orange or apple when I have it. In fact, he's eying that jelly, wondering how much of it will be left here for him and how much will be going to my sis ;)

Hi Morz8 :) I too, canned the Pomegranate Jelly yesterday!

My friend came over and we juiced 25 poms and ended up with 3 batches or 19 eight ounce jelly jars!
The recipe called for 3 1/2 cups of pom juice, 5 cups of sugar and 1 pkg of Sure Gel. I wanted to add some lemon juice to cut all of the sugar, but she was resistant :(
It ended up pretty good, tasting like grape jelly. All in all we loved it and want to make some again next year. But I will be adding some lemon juice to cut that strong sugar flavor, in my batch ;)

Have you tried yours yet? Your batch sounds Devine!! Let me know, I'm so curious!

I've made high-acid fruit jellies and jams with nunaturals stevia as the sweetener and in Pomonas pectin.
It isn't for everyone, and doesn't have the "hallmarks of a GOOD jelly" as Carol states. It is cloudy, and can be a very unique texture. I don't mind it, but most of my friends and family dislike it.
I don't know another way to make good, low or no sugar sweet jelly from a tart fruit. I'm going back to making jellies with surejel for now. I'll use Pomonas sometimes for jams, but even then it still has the texture thing.

homemade,
Have you thought about using the reduced sugar pectin? Then you would be using more juice than sugar. I made wild grape jam that way. The juice was really tart and I initially thought the jelly was a little tart but it is my daughter's favorite for her peanut butter and jelly toast. She will be sad when it is gone.