Jaboticaba Jelly Experiments #1 & #2

I had only intended on doing one experimental batch of jaboticaba jelly today. That experiment was putting the jaboticaba through a juicer (as I had seen on You Tube) then using the juice to make the jelly! It seemed like a much easier & faster process than the other jelly making recipes & videos I was finding. NOT! The Green Garden Guy very specifically said he was using a centrifugal juicer; I was using the cold press Ninja juicer that Evan had sent for Sarah last May. It clogged up almost immediately when I was using the intermediate filter which allows for "some pulp". Tomorrow I might try Jungle Joel's way to make jaboticaba juice & make jam with the resulting juice. Experiment #1 = FAIL.

It starts to juice.

But immediately becomes clogged.

That pulp is clogging the pulp output end.

This is the input end.

Just a small part of what was causing the clog.

The pulp that actually made it out.

For Experiment #2, I did it the way that most of the things I saw on Google said to make jaboticaba jelly. It starts with putting the washed fruit in a pot; most then add water enough to cover the fruit, some do not. To 5 cups of jaboticaba (or 26.5 ounces, the amount of fruit I put in each bag) I added 3 cups of water which covered the fruit in the pot. I brought it to a boil, then mashed it with Grandma's old potato masher. Then I strained it to remove the skins, big chunks of pulp, seeds, & stems; that was a lot of work that clogged up the strainer & left me with a lot of organic stuff. I returned the 4 cups of juice to the pot, added 4 cups of sugar 😮, & brought the whole thing to a boil. From here it was waiting & watching for the point when the concoction becomes thick enough to become jelly; it took about 2 hours.  

Eureka! I found Grandma's potato masher!

Four cups juice from 5 cups jaboticaba.

Juice & sugar starts boiling.

Juice & sugar after about 2 hours of boiling.

I read that one of the ways to tell if you have reached that jelly point is to put a few drops of the liquid on a plate that you have been keeping in the freezer. My 1st test was expected to fail since the plate had only been in the freezer like 5 minutes; who keeps a plate in the freezer? Subsequent tests were better. But I could also see a difference in the consistency of the slurry as it boiled; towards the end I would have to take it off the heat so it would not boil over & make a really big mess on the stove! When it reached the jelly stage, I ladled it in to hot clean jars; I got 3&1/2 - 8 ounce jars. It had taken me almost 4 hours to get to this point; so about 1 hour per jar... I will never complain about the cost of artisan, small batch jams & jellies ever again. (Not that I have before.)

(L to R) 10-minute & 20-minute test drops.

I test every 10 minutes to see the change in consistency.

But wait! We're not done yet! I added the lids & rings & set the 4 jars in a hot water bath; making sure all the jars were totally immersed in hot water. Once the bath came back up to boiling, I turned it down to a simmer & set the timer for 10 minutes. I removed the jars & set them on the counter to cool overnight. They were still quite liquid when I removed them from the hot water bath; I heard the lids pop as the vacuum created by the cooling sealed each jar. Experiment #2 = CONDITIONAL PASS. (I have to check tomorrow if they really did become jelly. If not, then I have a lot of syrup for pancakes, ice cream, & whatever else you want to pour fruit syrup over.)

Filled jars waiting for lids & rings.

Processed jars; sorry, forgot to take a water bath photo.

Before I left to run errands this morning, I made a box for the rags that Trudy brought by yesterday when she came to harvest the panax for her goats. I used an old soy milk box that has a convenient opening that I can pull the rags out of whenever I need one!

I did not personally have equipment for making jelly & jam or the supplies for making them & I did not remember seeing any in Grandma's kitchen things even though I know she made jams & jellies. So I made a trip to Sunshine for the canning jars & whatever other equipment I could find there. The circuit today also included Takata to pick up sugar & whatever else Sunshine might not have that was needed. I was not able to get all the supplies at either place, but I got the most important part - the canning jars.

This is the mural on the Nakahara Grocery Store building across the street from Sunshine.

The Roomba only did the east half of the house today. Twice. Since I was going to be very busy in the kitchen with the jelly making I decided to be okay with that for today; I did not want it to be underfoot while I was trying to concentrate on the jelly making.

It said it was done cleaning & was going home.

But it only did the east half. (North is at top.)

I made it try again. Unsuccessfully.

On the 3rd try, it had to pause. This looked promising.

It started up again about 10:30 & went to the kitchen again. Auē!

It includes the recharging time in the cleaning history.

But it still only did the east half. (North at top.)

The weather here today was quite wet from the beginning of the day. It drizzled most of the day but there were a couple of dry periods.

Six minutes before sunrise.

Light drizzle at 7:49 a.m.

Rain shower at 9:17 a.m.

Drizzling as I start my errands at 9:26 a.m.

Got back just in time for the downpour at 10:35 a.m.

More precipitation at 2:47 p.m.

It continued until 5:34 p.m. & later in to the night.

During one of the short less wet periods I went over to Jessie's house to borrow a bag of sugar; fortunately she bakes & picks up supplies when they are on sale. I had been at Takata this morning getting supplies for the jelly experiments but totally forgot the sugar! Auē!  

I was so tired by the end of the day, I was glad that Trudy stopped by during the lull in the weather. She dropped off some beef stew she made last night; she gave some to me as she was headed over to Glenn's house to deliver some to him. That's what I had for dinner.

It was the only container she had.

I had half of it tonight.

I also decided to feed the cats all at once instead over a 2 hour period for both the morning & evening feedings. They are getting used to enough to me I don't feel like I need to reinforce to them that I am the one providing the food to them as much as I did in the beginning. I have even been able to get Holoi to take strips of turkey from my hand. 

Olomea at the 7:01 a.m. feeding.

Olomea & Holoi at the 5:52 p.m. feeding.

And finally, I decided to finish making the Shaker Lemon Pie tomorrow instead of tonight. Stay tuned to see how that experiment turns out!

As I mentioned earlier, I used Grandma's old potato masher to mash the jaboticaba & get all the juices out. I had originally tried to find my potato masher which is more efficient at mashing things but could not find it. This evening, since I still had one of the bins sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor (#100), I decided to remove a few things from it each evening & wash them up before I put them away on the shelves. Here are the things I unpacked tonight. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Anakē Daisy! She is 93 years young today! She had lunch with Anakē Florence, Scott, & Wakana.

(L to R) Nā anakē Florence & Daisy. (Photo by Wakana)

(L to R) Wakana, Anakē Florence, & Anakē Daisy. (Photo by Wakana)

Birthday Girl Daisy with sister Florence.

Eight years ago Xander arrived in Hawaiʻi. Although he never made it to Hawaiʻi Island, he was able to spend 4 years in a warm, sunny place. For 2 of those years I was not here full-time so Mom & Dad spoiled him rotten! He got ice cream almost every night when they had their ice cream.