Winter spice jelly

Winter spice jelly

This spiced jam can be stored to eat with meat or cheese or presented as a homemade gift

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

MAKES 2 jars

Preparation and cooking times

Cook time

Cook 1 hr 45 mins

20 mins + straining and chilling
Vegetarian

Vegetarian, Low-fat

Method

  1. Wash and cut up the apples into small chunks, leaving the peel and cores in. Tip the apple into a large pan with the spices, orange peel and bay leaves, reserving 2 star anise, 4 cloves and 2 bay leaves for the jars. Cover with 600ml water. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer with a lid on for 1 1⁄2 hrs.
  2. Pour the apple mixture into a jelly bag or a sieve lined with muslin or a J-cloth, suspended over a large bowl. Leave to drip for 2 hrs (until it stops dripping) or overnight. Do not be tempted to push the liquid though the sieve or your jelly will become cloudy.
  3. Measure the juice - you should have about 600ml. Pour the liquid into a large pan along with the jam sugar and vinegar.
  4. Set over a low heat to dissolve the sugar, stirring constantly. Once dissolved, turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Boil rapidly for 15 mins, or until setting point is reached, skimming away any scum that rises to the surface.
  5. Pour jelly into hot sterilised jars and place a star anise, bay leaf and 2 cloves into each jar. Chill for 3-4 hrs or overnight until set.
Try

Cooking your jelly

To ensure your jelly sets, it's best to use a sugar thermometer to check that the jelly reaches 105C (setting point). If you don't have one, put a small plate in the freezer for 5 mins, then pour a little of the juice onto a saucer. After 1 minute, run your finger through - if the jam wrinkles, it's ready.

To sterilise jars

Wash the jars in hot soapy water, rinse well and dry in the oven at 180C/ 160C fan/ gas 4 for 10 mins just before filling.

PER SERVING

125 kcalories, protein 0g, carbohydrate 33g, fat 0 g, saturated fat 0g, fibre 0g, sugar 33g, salt 0.01 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2011.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo MsCupCake

    30 November 2011

    MsCupCake rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Was quite intrigued by the look of this jelly, had a lot of apples to use up and was not disappointed!. I have never made a jelly before - that part was dead easy. Despite making jam before I invested this time in a sugar thermometer to ensure getting the right set and it did indeed work simply. The flavours are gorgeous and the colour of the jelly is fab. I have put them into 6 small jars and am going to give (most!) away as christmas presents. Am sure it would work well with cheese or meat but I added it to some pan-fried pork yesterday to make a sauce, along with apple pieces and creme fraiche. Was yum. As an added bonus the star anise left in my cupboard smells GORGEOUS!

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  • Binder photo nannon

    08 December 2011

    nannon rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Can you please tell me how long this will keep unopened??

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  • Binder photo nannon

    08 December 2011

    nannon commented on this recipe

    Can you please tell me how long this will keep unopened??

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  • Binder photo MsCupCake

    10 December 2011

    MsCupCake commented on this recipe

    Nannon, I would treat it like an opened jar of jam. Maybe keep it in the fridge and use it up over Christmas. But I'm unofficial ;)

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  • Binder photo Octarine

    20 December 2011

    Octarine commented on this recipe

    I have made this twice so far and have still not been able to get the liquid clear, any tips for try number 3? The first time I made it to recipe but the second time I swapped star anise for ginger (dried), upped the other spices, added half a vanilla pod and put in less orange peel. I also cooked the apple mixture in a pressure cooker and reduced the cooking time by half. So far all the people I have given this to have been really impressed, so will probably make this again in the future but perhaps swapping the apple for pears?

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  • Binder photo Cleo

    10 February 2012

    Cleo commented on this recipe

    This was truly delicious. It is a lovely accompaniment to cold meats and so easy to make and the gorgeous smell whilst cooking spread through the house.

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  • Binder photo Octarine

    26 September 2012

    Octarine commented on this recipe

    Just a small update, my second lot of jelly did not set (but I've put this down to a bad cooking day as my fudge didn't set either =s) but it did make a very nice syrup and goes well with ice cream or in tea and adds a festive twist to Apple turnovers.

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  • Binder photo JulesTheNorweegie

    10 November 2012

    JulesTheNorweegie commented on this recipe

    I tried to make this last night. I couldn't find sugar with added pectin, so I had to use the two separately. It looked a little liquidy before leaving to set and - hoping it would set overnight, I came into the kitchen this morning to find them in the same consistency as last night :( Do you know how much pectin would be required, and if this would mean I would need less sugar? I was really looking forward to this, as it smelt delicious! Ach well....maybe next time. I wont give it any stars as it was probably my fault!

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

MAKES 2 jars

Preparation and cooking times

Cook time

Cook 1 hr 45 mins

20 mins + straining and chilling
Vegetarian

Vegetarian, Low-fat

Ingredients

  • 1kg cooking apples
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 4 star anise
  • 15 cloves
  • half nutmeg , grated
  • 4 allspice berries
  • 1 blade mace , or ¼ tsp ground mace
  • 4 long pieces orange peel
  • 8 bay leaves
  • 450g jam sugar
  • 100ml cider vinegar
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PER SERVING

125 kcalories, protein 0g, carbohydrate 33g, fat 0 g, saturated fat 0g, fibre 0g, sugar 33g, salt 0.01 g

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