Herb Jelly

Herb jelly? Yup, herb jelly. It actually is what you think it is.

Before we jump into what it is, let’s discover what we can use it for:

• Add to meat marinades
• Add to stir fries for extra sweetness and flavour
• Add to salad dressings, sauces or dips
• Add on top of cracker and cheese snacks
• I love to make a dressing using 3 parts oil to one part jelly

First, let’s define jelly, as opposed to jam.

In North America:

jelly refers exclusively to a clear or translucent fruit spread made from sweetened fruit (or vegetable) juice—thus differing from jam by excluding the fruit’s flesh… Source: Wikipedia

So, it is normally the extracted juice of fruit or vegetables that have pectin added to produce the jelly.

For herbs, we go about the process a little differently. We infuse a liquid (water, wine is good too) with flavour (herbs). Then we add pectin.

The beauty of making a jelly is that it is another great option for preserving the abundant harvest at the end of summer. It is also an awesome gifts to make for friends and family. Hint: Christmas is coming.

A Note on Pectin

There are two main pectin forms – dry and liquid. These are NOT interchangeable WITHIN a recipe.

By this I mean that you can use either one, but they must be used within a recipe differently.

Whenever dry pectin powder is in a recipe, it is used at the beginning. It is usually added even before the sugar component. This allows the pectin the chance to rehydrate.

Liquid pectin is added at the very end of the recipe. This is because it is already hydrated. If liquid pectin is added at the beginning, it will end up over cooked and will not set.

So, let’s say you have liquid pectin but the recipe calls for an envelope of dry… Simply add the liquid pectin after adding and dissolving the sugar.

So, let’s say you have dry pectin but the recipe calls for liquid pectin … Simply add the dry pectin at the beginning of the recipe – usually the initial cooking just before adding the sugar. The time it takes to dissolve the sugar and bring the contents to a boil will be enough to rehydrate the pectin.

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