Hey, a BIG thank you for the rule of thumb on the jelly and jam without Surejell added. I get aggrevated because Sure Jell doesn’t keep well even if I do buy extra. I’ve got such a habit of just trying to make things without a recipe that sometimes I have to go back and re-do my jelly and add Sure Jell when it doesn’t set. Other times it sets just fine. It’s always kinda an iffy thing if I’m flying by the seat of my pants.
I always add a little lemon or citric acid for the acid and if I know something doesn’t have enough pectin I add some apple juice but that doesn’t always get it right for me. And the thing I hate about recipes *is* that they are usually for small batches. I know the “gurus of jelly making” say it’s better to do small batches but I always just have a batch of fruit and want to use the amount I have.
My daughter was just driving through and stopped to visit. She encouraged me to try making wine from this cantaloupe juice. LOL... probably end up with cantaloupe wine vinegar. Should make tasty herb vinegars. ROFL
LOL I love it.... Somebody else who cooks like I do....
I think on a prior message someone questioned the legality of winemaking at home... Far as I know, it is perfectly legal to make up to 200 gal. for home use per year - I wouldn’t even come close to that.
Instead of the usual wine making, I tried something that I saw somewhere online - no fancy air lock, no special equipment, or anything. It uses juice, sugar and yeast in a 2 liter bottle with a balloon on top. I tried it once with apple juice. Worked great! I have one going now with Cran-Apple juice and 3/4 cup sugar (using about 1/8 tsp. of bread yeast) and have one working with peach puree. I am not a connoisseur of fine wine and do not really care for the dry types - prefer a sweeter wine, so it might be OK. The apple was great just a bit drier than I liked so increased the sugar by a quarter cup.
Will let you know how these batches work out.