Making Quince Jelly and Winning Brownie Points.

So you regular readers know the Hausfrau Róisín ´Art und Weise´on matters housekeeping.  

If you are newer to ISFTS you can link here for details on same:
http://irishstewforthesoul.blogspot.de/2013/11/hausfrau-roisin-housekeeping-tip-of-day.html

Making quince jelly is my favorite project of the moment.  Quince jelly is full of goodness, tasty, inexpensive AND easy to make.  So loads of vitamins and ´loads ´a brownie points all in the one jar so to speak.

How to make Quince Jelly

You will need:

1. Quince

Buy at local garden or farm produce store.  Any amount you care for.  I suggest two kilos for a newbie to jelly and jam making.

2. Sugar specifically for Jelly and Jam making   1 Kilo.  

Here in Germany, one can buy sugar with pectin.  I never make jelly before so I don´t know if you can get this sugar anywhere else. 

3. Lemon – juice of.  Optional.

In addition and very important:

4. A juice extractor. 

I got a loan of one from my mother-in-law.  If you can´t get a juice extractor, then cancel the project unless you love hard work.   – The extractor looks a bit like a big cooking saucepan with different layers.   

Without this extractor I would not bother trying this business of quince jelly making.  Even Jamie Oliver could not make jelly making easy without this juice extractor.  If Jamie can´t make it easy most of you, my dear readers, could not either… (Go on shock me and tell me I am wrong!)

5. Jam Jars - sterilized

About 8 x 500 grams jars.  Always have one or two extra just in case.

To sterilize jam jars al la Hausfrau Róisín:

The night before you are cooking, wash jars and lids in sudsy how water. 

Rinse. 

Pour boiling water into each jar and lid. (I go with one kettle of water pouring from one jar to the next.) 

Put jam jars on a tray in the oven.

The next day before cooking the jelly turn oven on low, put jam jars on a cooking tray and let them warm up in the oven until you are ready to pour in the juice.

Preparations the night before.

- Rub off fuzzy bits (you´ll see what I mean when you buy the quince).

- Wash quince.  Cut out any bad bits.

- Cut into bit size pieces. 

-  Fill bottom container of extractor to about ¾ full with hot water.  Simmer for about two hours, give or take.

Check every so often esp. if you are a newbie, to make sure there is still water in the lower tray of the juice extractor.  A right mess if you get that one wrong!

-  Put cut up chunks of quince into top layer of extractor.  Simmer for about two hours, give or take.

-  Leave stand overnight so the juice from the quince can drain out.

-  Pour the juice that has collected over night out of the ´thing gummy tube´- you´ll understand if you have an extractor, you won´t if you don´t.  In which case you are likely not bothering to make this jelly, so it is not a problem anyway.

-  Measure whatever quantity of juice you have collected and put into a pot to cook. 

-  Put in half that quantity of the special jam sugar.  I.e. if you have 1000 grams of juice add 500 grams of the special sugar.

-  Add juice of lemon.

-  Cook in bubbly mode THEY SAY for four minutes, I say for more like ten minutes.  Stirring occasionally. 

-  So after about ten minutes pour into the warm jam jars and screw close immediately.

And there you have it folks.  There I am with my eight jars of quince jelly and swimming in brownie points!