hi i'm gardener scott today i'll be showing you how to make jelly it's a pretty easy process that you can do at home i recommend having all of your supplies and all of your ingredients ready before you begin and i've got mine set up right here i'm using watermelon juice today to make a watermelon jelly jelly is basically required to have four ingredients a juice a pectin an acid and a sugar when you use a recipe that calls for these in particular order you'll get jelly some juices have naturally occurring acid like apple for instance or strawberry but you may need to add your own acid it all comes down to the recipe you're using the equipment you'll be using is a jar lifter a lid lifter make it a little easier to fill the jars you might want to use one of these jar funnels and then a spoon or a ladle it's as simple as that i have my jars ready to go and i have the lids ready to go the bands are set to the side i'll show you that step in a little bit you'll need to decide what size jars you want to use this is a half pint size jar and this is half of that you really don't want to go much larger than the half pint if you do a pint size or even a quart size the jelly might not set correctly so stick with half pint or smaller today i'll be using a combination of both you want a big pot and it's important that the pot can hold the jars and be covered by a couple inches of water when you begin the processing step you'll also want to prepare the lids for jelly making the special preparation on the inside of the lid is designed to be warmed before placing onto the jar that helps ensure a good seal you want to warm them up on the stove just take a small pan heat up the water and place the lids inside make sure you have at least one lid for every jar you'll be using you don't want this water to boil you just want it to be hot so that the lid is warm now we're ready to make jelly different recipes call for different amounts of juice make sure you use the correct amount or else the jelly might not set the recipe i'm using today calls for four cups of juice i have that pre-measured it also calls for seven cups of sugar you want to pre-measure your sugar and put it into a container because you'll be adding it all at once when you make the jelly i have my pre-measured juice and i'll pour it right into the pot you want a pot larger than the juice and the sugar combined because it runs the possibility of boiling over you want high sides you want a nice sturdy pot as well i'll start the heat and get the juice warming up now i add the texture powdered pectin and liquid pectin are added at different times i'm using powdered pectin it goes in right now as soon as the juice is put into the pan if you're using liquid pectin make sure you follow the directions because you won't be adding that until right after you put the sugar in the pectin is a very fine powder if you just pour it into one clump it won't dissolve very easily so i add a little bit at a time and whisk it into the juice to make sure it's thoroughly dissolved you want to stir the juice pretty constantly while it's heating up you don't want any of it burning to the side or the bottom of the pan definitely use a long handled spoon that will avoid splattering and possibly burning yourself this is the spoon i've used for virtually every batch of jelly i've made you're looking for the jelly to reach a boil and we're just about there once the juice is at a regular boil you want to grab the sugar and pour it in all at once and now you slowly stir to make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved you want the juice to reach a full boil we're almost there a full boil is when you keep stirring and the bubbles keep coming you can't stop it once it reaches a full boil you want to start your timer you want it to boil hard for one minute keep stirring the whole time when you hit the mid-point you want to remove the jelly from the stove i'm using a gas stove so i can just turn the heat off with the heat gun the jelly will begin to settle down and the bubbles will stop now we're ready to put the jelly into the jars using your jar lifter and holding on to the wood handles lift the jar out of the hot water being careful not to drop any of the water on to yourself pour any water that remains in the jar back into the pot again being careful and keeping a good grip on the jar you don't want to drop it place it onto your work surface if you're using the funnel place it into the jar at this time and then with your ladle or a large spoon begin spooning the jelly into the jar you'll want to work relatively quickly because the jelly will begin to set as soon as it begins to cool you'll want to fill the jar to within about a quarter inch of the top that's just about where the top thread is take a moistened paper towel and clean the top of the jar you want to make sure any juice that dribbled onto the top is completely removed now take your lid lifter and remove one of the warm lids placing it evenly onto the jar take your band screw it loosely you don't want to tighten it you just want to hold the lid in place the jar is very hot take your jar lifter again and place it back into the pot of hot water repeat this process for the rest of the jars the water needs to come to a full rolling boil to complete the process make sure you have one to two inches of water over the tops of the jars when you see the full rolling boil we're almost there you'll want to start the time of your processing processing time differs depending on what altitude you live at most recipes are written for sea level make sure you find out about your elevation and what kind of correction you need to make i'm at a full rolling boil now the water's trying to jump out of the pot i'll keep it covered i'll start my timer and i'll monitor the heat turning it down just very slightly so it doesn't roll completely off the top but it has to maintain a full rolling boil the entire processing time if at any point that boil stops you have to start the processing time all over again when time is up you can turn off the heat after a few minutes go ahead and remove the lid by waiting you lessen the chance that the water will splatter and burn you take your jar lifter a dry towel and begin lifting the jars of jelly out of the water you want to place them in an area that's cool and out of any drafts try not to tip the jars you want to keep them as level as possible you don't need to worry about the water on top it should drain off you can lightly dab it if you're concerned about that one important factor when deciding on the pot you're going to use is to make sure you have something that can fit in the bottom bottom of this pot i have an insert that was used in a pressure cooker you can also use a folded up towel or a special rack made for these type of pots the idea is to keep the bottom of the jar off the bottom of the pot as the jars cool you may hear a slight pop that's a good thing that's showing that the lid is forming a vacuum and sealing to the top of the jar now we just need to wait we'll come back tomorrow after about 24 hours and check the seal on these jars to make sure that it's good it's been over 24 hours since we made the jelly now we're ready to finish the process the first thing you want to do is check the seal of the jars go ahead and take the band off set it to the side and you want to see that each of the jars has a good seal it should be slightly concave and when you push on it it shouldn't bounce back up it should stay depressed when the jars have a good seal now clean them up a little bit you might have a few drops of jelly that are still sticking to the jar so just lightly wash it and dry it and then set it back ready to label you want to make sure and label each of the jellies you make so that you know what kind it is you can use abbreviations you can use anything you want so that you know what it is at a minimum the type of jelly and the date that you canned it ideally you should also put the elevation and how much time you processed it for and that's all there is to making jelly it's pretty simple make sure you store without the band in place it'll last longer the band could cause rust this will last on your shelf easily a year maybe even more and when you pop it it'll be just as fresh as the day you made it join me at gardnerscott.com for other lessons and fun activities if you have any questions about jelly making or anything else contact me at info gardenerscot.com i'm gardner scott enjoy jelly making