Honey Lemon Jelly

I started preserving food as soon as I was able to crank the grinder to grind cabbage for my mom’s picalilli.  I have canned, brined, and dried a variety of vegetables, fruits, and meats over the last 50+ years.  The only “putting food by” activity I haven’t tried is smoking.

Our financially strapped family was necessarily creative in finding and preserving food.  Once, my 9-year old sister even bagged herself a partridge with a stick.  We did a lot of wild berry collecting–blueberries (sometimes competing with the bears), strawberries, chokecherries, raspberries, and blackberries.  We froze them for pies, canned them for sauce, and made jellies and jams.  For a family of 7 kids, plus adults and anyone else who was crashing with us at the time, it wasn’t unusual to have 100 to 200 jars of jams and jellies sitting on our rickety cellar shelves.

Sometimes, when the berry crop wasn’t so good, we got creative.  Two of the most creative were corn cob jelly (we grabbed cobs out of our neighbor’s field after harvest) and honey lemon jelly.  I confess that I seldom made honey lemon jelly when I was younger.  It is in my adulthood that I have made it enough so that the recipe actually evolved. My favorite way to eat this jelly is on a hot bagel or english muffin that has first been smeared with cream cheese.  This jelly makes great gifts.

Honey Lemon Jelly

2 1/2 cups honey (I like the locally-produced light-colored basswood honey)

3/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (3-4 large lemons), strained to remove pulp

1 Tbsp lemon rind, grated finely

1/2 bottle liquid pectin

In large saucepan, combine honey, lemon juice, and lemon rind.  Stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture reaches a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Add pectin and bring again for to a full rolling boil.  Boil hard for 1 minute, no longer or the mixture will set up too hard.  Remove from heat and stir for 2-3 minutes to clarify the mixture.  Skim off any remaining foam. Seal with paraffin in pint or 1/2 pint jars.  The method I prefer, because the jelly keeps longer, is to seal with rings and lids; then turn jars upside down for 20-30 minutes; then turn right side up and the lids should seal.  Once in great while a jar doesn’t seal.  If that happen, just put it in the fridge and begin tasting. (:  Makes 2 pints (give or take).

CAUTION: Boiling jelly is extremely hot, so be careful when handling.