Pomegranate Jelly

A few months ago I was having dinner at my in-law's house, and they served pomegranate jelly with Kathy's homemade rolls. I about slid off my chair, the flavor of the jelly was so wonderful.
I told them that the next time they make jelly, I wanted to watch the process.

Pomegranates grow especially well here in the St. George climate, and are usually harvested in October. This is just one of the McConkie's trees.

Isn't this a beautiful fruit?

My brother -in- law Stan is a master gardener. His hard work provides a wide variety of harvest.
He's also a "make do" kind of guy. I will show you step by step his very technical process for making pomegranate jelly.

First Stan took two small pieces of 2 X 4's and put them together with a hinge. He then pressed a whole pomegranate in between the wood, catching the juice in a pan. He repeated that process over and over until he had 3-4 cups of juice.
Yes, very high tech.

I asked Stan what he calls that squishy thing. He said "I don't know...squishy thing sounds good." Kathy called it a "press".

I think it took around 8- 10 pomegranates to have enough juice for one batch of jelly.

Next Stan strained the juice to remove any seeds or membrane.

The McConkie's are very frugal. Using an old (but guaranteed very clean) nylon stocking worked well.
Watching Stan and Kathy made me think of the old adage "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." A great life lesson, especially in today's economy.

The jelly needs to be stirred constantly during the cooking process.

I admire Stan for helping and often initiating the canning projects. He and Kathy usually work together.

The entire process, from picking the fruit, to completed jelly worked up rather fast.

Once the sugar is added, the jelly only boils for 2 minutes. It's then ready to be funneled into jars.

Yum.

Tomorrow I will show you Stan's amazing technique for easily removing seeds from a pomegranate. I didn't even see this one on the Internet. But that Stan: he knows a lot of STUFF.

POMEGRANATE JELLY

(from Cooks.com)

3 1/2 C. pomegranate juice

1/4 C. lemon juice

1 package pectin

5 C. sugar

Put fruit and lemon juice in an 8 quart saucepan. Add pectin and stir thoroughly. Make sure all the pectin is dissolved. Put mixture on high heat and bring to a boil. Stir constantly to keep the jelly from scorching. Add sugar and mix well. Stir constantly to a boil so it can't be stirred down.

Boil EXACTLY 2 minutes. Remove from heat and fill jars.

*The recipe says to water bath, but Kathy never does. She adds a clean hot lid, twists on a ring and the jars usually seal on their own. If she ever has one that doesn't seal, she will add a little melted paraffin wax on top.