Mint jelly recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Jam Jelly and Preserves | 38 comments
Jars of homemade mint jelly
I slipped on my golden boots (only joking) and rustled this up yesterday when rain stopped play in the garden. I’d researched apple mint jelly in the meantime and discovered that cooking apples give a better overall flavour (Bramleys ideally if you live in the UK). I also needed to use and a lot more vinegar than I thought.
This recipe tastes like a jelly equivalent of homemade mint sauce, minty and full of flavour but much more delicate than the in your face commercially produced mint sauce. I also ‘saved’ the jars of mint jelly that tasted like tea, adding more vinegar and sugar. Not quite as good as this recipe, as I used eating apples and lemon juice but still tasty.
I’ve also described two methods. One for those who don’t have a steam juicer and use a jelly bag one for those who are lucky to have a steam juicer (like me).
The left over apple must looked so glorious that it seemed to be a shame to chuck it away. One of the sauces that I love with pork or fatty meat is apple sauce but generally never seem to have an apple to hand when the joint is roasting in the oven. So I will be making apple sauce with the left over apple pulp tomorrow. Look out for the recipe in a couple of day’s time.
You will need a heavy bottomed saucepan or Maslin pan
| Mint jelly recipe |
- 1.8 kilos (4 pounds) of cooking apples (Bramleys are ideal).
- 20g (3/4 ounce or 3/4 cup) bunch of mint tied with string
- 50g (1 3/4 ounces or 2 cups) of mint leaves chopped fine
- 570ml / 1 UK pint (2 1/2 cups) of water
- 570ml / 1 UK pint (2 1/2 cups) of white wine vinegar
- Sugar at a ratio of 454g (1 pound) to 570ml of liquid – a pound to a UK pint of liquid (2 1/2 cups)
- Prepare the apples. Don’t peel or core, just chop into chunky pieces and remove any pips that have been cut as these can make the juice bitter.
- Method 1: Jelly bag method
- Add the apple chunks to a large heavy bottomed saucepan.
- Add the bunch of mint and the pint of water.
- Simmer (lid on) until the apples look fluffy and are entirely soft.
- Strain through a jelly bag overnight.
- Measure the amount of apple juice and add 4/5ths of white wine vinegar (e.g. 715ml/1 pint and a quarter of juice would need 570ml/1 pint of vinegar – 2 1/2 cups of vinegar to 3 cups of water).
- Method 2: Fruit steamer
- Put the apple chunks and the bunch of mint into the top of your fruit steamer and fill the lowest saucepan at least three quarters full of water (I do this and let it heat up as I chop the apples).
- Steam the apples and mint until you have a UK pint and a quarter of apple juice (715 ml or 3 cups)
- Pour the extracted juice through a very fine sieve or piece of muslin.
- Then the process is the same for both methods.
- Put the juice and the vinegar into a heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat gently.
- Add white granulated sugar 454g to 570ml of liquid / 1 pound to 1 pint (2 1/2 cups) and stir until you are absolutely sure that all the sugar has been dissolved.
- Bring to a rolling boil and test for set after 20 minutes. Testing every four minutes thereafter. If you have a jam thermometer – my jelly set at 103c (217f).
- When the jelly has set, remove from the heat and stir in the chopped mint.
- Leave the jelly for at least 10 minutes before giving it a final stir and ladling into hot sterilised jars.
- Wipe the tops of the jars, seal immediately and label when cold.
- Store in a dark dry place. This should keep for at least a year.
Leave a reply
Made the mint jelly which tastes wonderful. Sadly mine doesn’t look as pretty as yours as all the leaves gathered towards the top of the jar. Could they have been chopped too fine? I left the jelly to cool for 10 mins before potting up. I want to try my hand at Rosemary jelly and also the hot chilli one and would like to know how to make sure contents dont float to top again if anyone could advise me.
Hi Mauramac
Getting the mint to float nicely through the jar is quite tricky. If you are using proper lids there’s a trick that I use – as the jars are cooling down keep turning them over and over – for about a minute a time – so as the jelly sets the mint is distributed evenly.
I have made mint jelly in the past from recipes found on the web but never seen one using vinegar and sugar so will try this one later on today. Many thanks for lovely ideas.
i have the apple and mint in my jelly bag ready to make apple mint jelly tomorrow,
can i use the apple pulp to make any thing else it seems a shame to but it in the compost
Lorraine I have made apple ginger jam on numerous occasions using a recipe from Mrs Beetons book. It works really well and the jam tends to be a golden colour so I suspect yours will retain its colour provided you store it in the dark.
There aren’t many recipes for it as it has an unusual slightly floury texture which some aren’t so keen on for spreading on toast or in cakes but its my husbands favourite
I have just made a delicious batch or apple and pimento jam! Pimento as in the Allspice variety, not the peppers!
I cannot give you a recipe as I am a bit of a throw it in then taste kind of a cook but I did make it with 2 varieties of apple to begin with. The first a small windfall apple with pink flesh from the tree on the corner and the second a delicious eater from someone’s garden where I have permission to scrump!
I found the bubbling mixture to be far too sweet so quickly cooked a bag of crab apples I had in the kitchen and added those too. Delicious!
I cannot find any recipes for apple jam anywhere and so am wondering if there is something awful going to happen in my yummy jars. Are they all going to turn sludge brown or stay the devine victoria plum colour they are now? lol
Has anyone else made apple Jam?
Is it 370ml or 570ml of vinegar?
Ooops it’s 570ml
We usually eat applesauce with a spoon topped with a bit of cinnamon and maybe brown sugar. My favorite apples for applesauce are Kings although it is mainly because that is what I grew up with. There are lots of yummy apples out there.
I do, of course, have a vision of you making this in your golden boots, which is really quite funny. Today I was looking in my local second-hand / thrift store and I saw the cutest jar which said ‘Apple sauce’ on it which is kind of funny now that I am reading your post.. and I remember thinking ‘but I don’t really eat apple sauce ..’ so I didn’t buy it and now I wish I had ! It will of course probably be gone next time I pass. When you write your post about apple sauce would you mind putting some suggestions about what it could be used with please ? I love apple-based crumbles, and apple sauce I can only think of eating it with a joint of pork or gammon maybe, or as part of an apple pie ! Thank you and I look forward to reading all about it. All the best to you both. KG. :o)
Hi Margaret
I’m going to keep some apple must back from my next batch of jelly and try this. It sounds amazing. Thanks so much for the suggestion 🙂
I use a jelly bag to make apple jelly and used to make little potpourris balls out of the pulp. You add spices like cloves , cinnamon, allspice until you can handle the “dough”. Make it into little balls about 1″ across. Then put on a cookie sheet and dry until hard. I could tie them up in Christmas fabric and hang them on the Christmas tree. They smelled so good. You need to be able to buy your spices in bulk to get them cheap enough to do this as it takes a lot of spice