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Mint Jelly
Wash the mint and chop it fine. To each cup of chopped mint add one-fourth cup sugar and one-fourth cup water and let it stand overnight or for several hours. Place it over the heat and bring it to the boiling-point. Make apple jelly, using two-thirds cup sugar to each cup of apple-juice. When the jelly test is observed, add green vegetable coloring and one or two tablespoons of the prepared mint for each quart of apple-juice.
A two-part recipe: a sugared mint maceration and a plain apple jelly, combined only at the last moment. The order matters, since boiled mint turns brown and bitter.
- The hinge: add the mint at the endThe mint syrup goes in after the jelly has reached the setting point, not before. Long boiling drives off the volatile oils and leaves a hay-like flavour with a dull olive colour.
- Apple juiceUse tart, slightly underripe apples, skins and cores included, simmered with water to cover and drained through a jelly bag without pressing. Windfalls and crabapples are ideal; sweet dessert apples are low in both pectin and acid and will not set at this sugar ratio.
- Sugar ratioTwo-thirds cup sugar per cup of juice is roughly 4 1/2 oz to 8 fl oz, lower than the often-quoted pound-for-pint. It works only with genuinely pectin-rich juice; there is no added pectin here.
- The jelly test"When the jelly test is observed" means the syrup sheets off a cold spoon in two drops that run together, which corresponds to about 220F (104C) at sea level, or 8F above the boiling point of water where you are. A candy thermometer removes the guesswork.
- Straining the mintThe recipe adds "prepared mint" directly, which leaves leaf fragments suspended in the jelly. Pressing the macerated mint through a fine sieve and using only the green syrup gives a clear jelly.
- ColouringThe green is entirely cosmetic; apple jelly with mint is a pale amber otherwise. Modern liquid or gel food colour is concentrated, so add it in drops -- a very little goes far.
- Quantity of mintOne or two tablespoons of syrup per quart of juice is a light hand. Taste before jarring and add more syrup by the teaspoon if it reads faint.
- Yield and keepingA quart of apple juice at this ratio gives roughly three to four half-pint jars. Pour into hot sterilised jars; for shelf storage process 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath, otherwise refrigerate and use within a couple of months.