Pineapple Jelly Recipe

This stuff is yummy!  Not for a diabetic, that is fore sure, as it is sweet and sugary.  Anyway, this is built off of another recipe that I had.  This recipe makes about 2-2.5 pints of jelly.  I prefer making jelly in pints because that is how we use them in our house, though you may find that you want to use the small jelly jars.  Also, I used to do this as doubling it to get this done faster and making more, but I no longer do this.  It seems when you mix 2-3 batches together simultaneously, that it is highly likely you will burn your pots, even stirring it all the time.  When sugar boils it is EXTREMELY hot and flammable.

Ingredients:

• 1 large pineapple (about 2.5 cups if you are using a canned pineapple)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3.5 cups of sugar
• 1-1.5 packet of liquid pectin, or 1/5-2/5 cup of regular pectin

1. Start heating the water in your water bath canner.
2. Cut up your pineapple, or open the can, and blend the pineapples in a food processor or blender.  I’ve done batches with blending and one’s without, and I prefer the blended version, as it will be very chunking without blending it first.  You can also just cut them up if you want it a bit more chunky.
3. Mix the pectin with about 1/4 cup of sugar in a bowl.  Leave the rest of the sugar off to the side.  Use 1 packet of pectin if you want it to be a more runny mix, or mix 1.5 packets to make it a more stiff jelly.  I prefer the more running version just because it’s easier to spread.  1.5 packets will make it around the consistency of what you get in a store or a little thicker.  Regular pectin can be used as well, using 1/5 cup for a running version and 2/5 cups for a thick batch.
4. Mix this with your cut up pineapples in your pan and bring it to a full boil.
5. Once it gets to a full boil, start pouring the rest of the sugar in.  I usually add 1 cup more at a time and mix it, then pour the next one until I’m done.  Again, sugar burns pans so I figure if I insert it a bit slower, maybe I will have less problems burning things lol.
6. Mix the lemon juice into the mixture.
7. Bring this mixture to a full boil.  Once it hits a full rolling boil, boil it for about 1 more minute.  Make sure to stir the mixture while doing this as it can overflow when it foams up and burn your pots at this point.  If this goes over your pan, you could also cause a fire as liquid sugar is flammable, so don’t leave it at this point.  Also, remove any froth at the top of mixture as it is boiling.  It usually floats to the top middle of the pot as your are boiling it and if you don’t remove it, you will get what you see in the picture below (1 of my bad batches, though it still tastes great).

8. Remove the mixture burners and you are ready to start canning.  Turn off the stove.
9. Start pouring the jelly into your jars.  Note, these jars should all be hot to start as you should have just washed them, and your lids should also be clean and hot already.  Do not do this without using hot jars as your jars could crack when placed into the water bath canner otherwise.
10. Place your rings and lids on your cans and hand tighten them.
11. Once done, wait until the water is boiling in the water bath canner, then place your jars into the canner and place the water bath canner lid on.
12. Let the jars boil for 10 minutes in the canner, or 15 minutes if you are about 6,000 feet elevation, then remove the cans, and you are done.
13. If you want to make another batch, this is a great time to clean that pot and start another batch.  When I make multiple batches I’m usually cutting up the next batch of pineapples and cooking the next batch while the previous batch is being canned.  It keeps you busy while waiting.