Thursday, May 19, 2011

Lemon-Poppyseed Jelly

Is there anything more appealing than a jar of home-preserved jam or jelly, bursting with fruit flavor fresh from the garden?
This lemon-poppyseed jelly is one of the best arguments I know for spending a couple hours in the kitchen, concocting your own fruit-infused condiments.
The most time-consuming part of the process is squeezing all the juice -- especially if your lemons, like many of mine this year, grew to be not much bigger than a quarter.
You think I'm kidding?
But in the end . . . look, oh look, at what you end up with.
Jars of tart, jelled bliss, ready to spread on a slice of homemade bread for the most perfect morning snack ever.
The recipe comes from an outstanding book called The Bountiful Kitchen by Barry Bluestein and Kevin Morrissey.  Readers of Queen of the Castle may recognize this as the book that provided me with the best fresh tomato sauce recipe in the entire universe.
You think I'm kidding?

HONEYED LEMON POPPY SEED JELLY
Before making this recipe, make sure you have your canning supplies in order -- clean jars, big vat with boiling water, etc.  If canning is not your thing, just make sure you have six or eight clean jars or plastic containers to fill with your finished jelly.  You can pop it in the freezer or give it away to friends with instructions to keep it refrigerated and eat up in the next couple of months.

2 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained (according to Bluestein and Morrissey, this will take about 13 lemons; my experience with itty bitty lemons, however, says just keep squeezing until you have enough -- maybe a gazillion lemons or so)
1 c. water
1 c. pure honey
1 box (1 3/4-oz.) powdered fruit pectin
3 1/2 c. sugar
1 T. poppy seeds

In large pot, combine lemon juice, water, honey, and pectin.  Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, stirring.  I use a wire whisk to help get out all the little pectin lumps.  Once it's boiling well, add the sugar all at once and keep stirring with the whisk.  Bring back to boil and cook for precisely one minute.
Remove from heat and let sit five minutes.  Skim off foam; stir in poppy seeds.  Can, using your preferred method. 
(Mine, for jams and jellies, is simple:  I just use hot, clean Mason jars fresh from the dishwasher; fill with jelly and top with new, flat lids bought from the grocery store that have been waiting in scalding, nearly boiling water on a nearby burner; top the lid with canning jar rings, which generally come with a new box of jars; invert on a towel on the kitchen counter for five minutes; then turn right side up.  Voila!  Canned jelly.)

Labels: ,

9 Comments:

Blogger Joanne said...

Whoa! I have never seen any flavor like this for jelly! Delicious.

May 19, 2011 at 5:08 PM  
Blogger ~~louise~~ said...

They say GREAT minds think alike! I'm inclined to agree:)

I was just preparing a post for tomorrow (May 20th) which involves pectin. As usual, I scanned many of my cookbooks looking for an usual recipe to include in the post. Lo and behold, Lemon-Poppyseed Jelly from The Bountiful Kitchen )Yes indeed the greatest book!)

So rather than put up a recipe that is duplicated all over the internet, I thought I would do a quick search to see if the recipe has been posted elsewhere. Again, lo and behold, your post is the only one that popped up!!!

Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, Lynn. Now, all I need to do is send visitors over here! Much better for them too because, you actually prepared it yourself and it looks fabulous!!!

May 19, 2011 at 5:54 PM  
Blogger ~~louise~~ said...

Hi Lynn,
It's me again. I'm having a problem capturing your url for this post. I think this has happened to me before.

Would you mind emailing me at acalenda [at] gmail with the url? Thanks:)

May 19, 2011 at 6:00 PM  
Blogger Lynn said...

How funny, Louise. Great minds do, indeed, think alike ;) And how fun that you love this book, too. Isn't it terrific? I sent you the link to the post, but here it is again, just in case: http://queenofthecastlerecipes.blogspot.com/2011/05/lemon-poppyseed-jelly.html

May 19, 2011 at 6:24 PM  
Blogger teresa said...

this is fantastic, i would LOVE to try this, wonderful job!

May 20, 2011 at 8:42 AM  
Blogger Sandra said...

This sounds wonderful -- and so different! What a nice gift this would make -- and you probably wouldn't have to worry about someone else giving the same gift! :)

May 21, 2011 at 6:13 PM  
Anonymous Faith said...

What a great jelly, I love that flavor combo! Those tiny lemons are adorable.

May 24, 2011 at 9:41 AM  
Anonymous Rachel said...

Can you give an indication of how many jars and what volume this recipe makes? I'm trying to reduce the recipe. Thanks!

June 22, 2014 at 3:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rachel, I honestly don't remember how much this made, as it's been several years since I made it. But based on the picture I posted, I would guess one batch made the five jam jars pictured here. Good luck! You will have to report back on how your jam-making went.

June 22, 2014 at 7:40 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home