Making Jelly

Follow these steps for making never-fail jelly.

Step by Step

1. Wash the jelly jars and keep them in hot water until ready to use them.
2. Extract the juice from the fruit. As a rough guide, plan on 1 pound of fruit for every 8-ounce jar of jelly. Select fruit that's barely ripe. Wash but don't soak it. Cut up or crush hard fruit such as apples or grapes, then place them in a pan, cover them with water, and simmer them for about 10 minutes. Soft berries may be crushed and put through a food mill, or simmered for about 10 minutes with little or no water, to extract the juices.
3. Put the pulp in a damp jelly bag, and allow the juice to drip into a bowl for several hours. Don't squeeze the bag or the jelly will be cloudy.
4. Measure the juice into a pan and add the amount of MRS. WAGES Home-Jell called for in the directions. Stir until it is dissolved. Make the quantity of jelly called for in the recipe. Increasing the amount may lessen the quality of the jelly.
5. Place the pan on high heat. Stirring constantly, bring the juice to a boil. Add sugar as required. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that can't be stirred down.
6. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat.
7. Skim off any foam.
8. Quickly pour the liquid jelly into the jars, leaving 1/2-inch of head space.
9. Wipe any spilled jelly from jar rims, close jars with lids and tighten bands. Process 5 minutes in a boiling water bath. Remove from water bath and place jars on a rack or towel in a draft-free area, and leave to cool for 12 hours.
10. Test seal by removing band, then gently lifting each jar by the rim of the lid.
11. Store jelly in a dry, dark, cool place after labeling.