Homemade Jelly?

[Elaine]

Should I add this to my plate, too? :eek:

Are there any jellies out there without high-fructose corn syrup? I am on a mission to rid my home of this dreaded beast!

[sclisa]

there *are* jellies that don't contain HFCS. I don't know about your particular grocery stores, but something like an Earth Fare will definitely have some. Try googling "Organic Jelly" and see what comes up in order to obtain some specific brands. One website to take a look at is www.deliciousorganics.com They have comfits, preserves, jellies, fruit butters...all manner of delicious items. :)

On the other hand, feel free to make it yourself. I have found that it is not at all cheaper to make it than to buy, unless I can get the fruit free or nearly free. It cooks down so much that it's not cost effective for me. However, you may garden, so that might not be an issue. Good luck!

Lisa

[~Tara~]

I've made apple jelly once. I was given an abundance of apples, that's why only once. ;) It wasn't terribly difficult, tasted quite good. No corn syrup. Just lots of sugar, which I cut considerably and it still tasted wonderful. Sorry, no recipe though, that was years ago.

As for jellies without HFCS..I think you have to go to the 'all-fruit spreads'. There are several brands/varieties of those. Polaner, Smuckers I believe has 'natural' all fruit ones, as well as some store brands. They're smaller jars though, running about $2. Even Whole Foods has a line in that price range.

I used to get some at Meijer, but now we're out of Meijer country so it's the Smuckers (I think) or the Whole Foods one.

[abbeyej]

We buy organic all-fruit spread at Trader Joe's to use instead of jelly. (You should be able to find similar products at almost any grocery or healthfood store.) I guess it depends on how much you want the "jelly" texture -- we've used fruit-only spreads for many years and my kids don't know any different. If you want *sweet*, but no HFCS, I believe Bonne Maman uses only real sugar.

There are lots of jams and jellies out there without HFCS.

If you want to make your own jellies, go for it, but, lol, don't do it because you don't think there's any non-HFCS fruit spread out there! :)

[Amy in NH]

We've been making our own jams/jellies for years. We started off to make low-sugar versions, and now we're grateful to avoid the HFCS and not pay a fortune at the same time (even if it's not organic, which would make the price considerably higher). We do pick-your-own fruits at local farms during picking season to keep our fruit costs down, and do 3-4 batches of a jelly on one day. But you can use frozen berries to make good jam, and we do freeze a bunch to use for cooking and just in case we run out of jam. You really can't cook more than one batch of regular jelly at a time - it just won't come out right. So we do them one after the other. It goes much quicker with two people working, so dh usually lends a hand which makes it that much more fun :) I can't speak to freezer jam, because we can ours to last outside the freezer. I'm sure someone else will address the freezer jam, though.

[abbeyej]

I can't speak to freezer jam, because we can ours to last outside the freezer. I'm sure someone else will address the freezer jam, though.

Oh, my late grandmother always made strawberry "freezer jam" when I was a little girl! I can still taste it (on white flour yeast rolls) just thinking about it! It was like liquid candy, and I thought it was the most heavenly stuff *ever*. :) Hers had more sugar than I even want to *think* about, lol, but it was soooo good. I swear if there were some in front of my (and those yeast rolls, or just some sourdough toast!), I could easily put the 23lbs I've lost back on in a single sitting. *Yum*!