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tracydr

Apple pear leftovers?

tracydr
13 years ago

So, I'm in the middle of a massive apple pear project. Nearly 4 gallons juice, a giant bowl of what is to become sauce after straining. I made the juice with a mechanical juicer so it has everything, core, seeds, peel. Plenty of pectin from the seeds and apples? I'll run it through my kitchen aid food mill tomorrow morning. It has some lemon juice to keep it from turning color.

Can I put the straining in cheesecloth and make jelly? My hubby has requested jelly. Also, can I freeze the straining and make the jelly later? I'm going to be dog tired after this sauce and juice processing tomorrow.

Oh, I had to freeze the juice today, no other place to put it. Can I thaw it on low on the stove or how should I taw before canning?

Comments (8)

  • flora_uk
    13 years ago

    I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the 'straining'. If you have already extracted juice and also made sauce you will only have some rather dry fibrous pulp left and you can't make jelly out of that. If you just put the left over pulp into cheesecloth very little more liquid,if any, will come out. Jelly is basically fruit juice and sugar and you say you have already extracted the juice for processing. 1 pint of juice to 1 pound of sugar will make a traditional jelly.

  • zabby17
    13 years ago

    Tracy,

    You might be able to get a little more flavour out of the strainings by cooking them up with some water and sugar, then straining again. If you get a tasty result, you could boil it down to a syrup. Might be able to make jelly out of it by cooking up with pectin, though to get a predictable result you would do best to do as Flora suggests and use some of the juice.

    No problem with freezing the juice. And it's fine to thaw on the stove. (It's even a little better, as it'll go from frozen to hot faster. Room temperature is what you don't want to keep most food at for very long---it's what bacteria love!)

    Good luck! Sounds like quite a project. I love pears too and hope to can some in syrup this weekend.

    Z

  • Linda_Lou
    13 years ago

    If these are Asian pears, just know you have to acidify it before processing just like tomatoes.
    They are not a high acid food. You cannot safely can them or the juice like regular apples or pears.

  • tracydr
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    They are Bartlett pears and there is quite a lot of lemon juice and apples.
    I wasn't clear on the jelly, partly because i've only made jams and habanero jelly. I was planning on using some of the juice but thought I might need the straining for the pectin?
    The juice is a bit foamy, or was, just out of the juicer. Before canning, should I run through a strainer or just skim?

  • zabby17
    13 years ago

    tracydr,

    I don't think it'll affect the pectin one way or the other --- plenty of jams that use whole fruit work with pectin.

    But traditionally, jellies are made with clear juice because that produces a clear jelly, for that translucent, jewel-like look. You strain it through a jelly bag, or several layers of cheesecloth or muslin (some use an old cotton pillowcase). And they always say not to squeeze it, but to let it drip for however long it takes, because if you squeeze you get some bits in and the jelly can be cloudy.

    Z

  • tracydr
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Boiled the foam skimmed off the cider and the cores, seeds and skins which were taken from the strainer waste. All after going through the Breville juicer.
    This mess is now straining through a linen lined collander. I may need to strain again through a double layer. I'm looking forward to seeing the end results.
    If all else fails I can always through some cranberries in to get it to set!
    The pear apple cider and sauce were amazing! 9 quarts and 7 quarts of each, minus what we ate and drank. I have to e sure I have enough cider hidden to make me some hot spiced cider if weever have a cold night. Maybe for camping in Flagstaff.

  • tracydr
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Boiled the foam skimmed off the cider and the cores, seeds and skins which were taken from the strainer waste. All after going through the Breville juicer.
    This mess is now straining through a linen lined collander. I may need to strain again through a double layer. I'm looking forward to seeing the end results.
    If all else fails I can always through some cranberries in to get it to set!
    The pear apple cider and sauce were amazing! 9 quarts and 7 quarts of each, minus what we ate and drank. I have to e sure I have enough cider hidden to make me some hot spiced cider if weever have a cold night. Maybe for camping in Flagstaff.

  • tracydr
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Finished my experiment with 4 lovely half pints. I didn't add any pectin and it seemed to come to gel-stage but now I think it I have syrup. Not a problem. I was going to reprocess it with some low-sugar pectin but my husband loves it as-is. He won't let me mess it up!
    So, after all my marathon apple- pear work ( nothing compared to those with their own trees, I know), grand total was 9 quarts cider, 7 quarts sauce, 4 half- pints cider jelly. All proclaimed amazingly delicious by the hubby.

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