Mahonia Jelly

This jelly is delicious – sharp and fruity with summer berry flavour before the summer has even arrived. Because these little fruits have so much pectin this jelly will be set up without any addition of apple or pectin so it’s an easy and straightforward dish. You might already have mahonia in your garden and didn’t know it was edible! Although it’s not native it is a very common garden and park plant as it produces beautiful yellow blooms in the winter when most things are sleeping. The flowers are also edible! I recommend serving this with cheese (naturally) but also excellent on a basic old crumpet that you have found in the freezer at 10pm on a Tuesday night.

Ingredients

– Makes about 3 jars of jelly depending on your jar size!

– 400g white sugar (I use granulated)

– 600g mahonia berrie

– 400g hot water

Instructions

1. Start by picking and washing your fruit. The berries should be dark and full of a rich purple juice. Discard any green berries as they will be bitter. Give the berries a really good wash and check them over. Weigh the fruit and then add to a sauce pan. Sterilise your jars and lids by giving them a really good scrub before placing into boiling water for 15 minutes. Place a small plate or saucer in the freezer for checking our jelly later.

2. Add the 400g water to the 600g of fruit. Place over a medium heat and cook the berries until they are completely soft – this will take about 15 minutes.

3. Strain the fruit juice though a muslin. You should get about a pint or 500-ish millilitres of juice. Discard the seeds and skin.

4. Pour the juice into a clean pot and add the sugar. Place this over the heat and bring up to a simmer. After 10 minutes start to check the temperature. We want it to reach 104-105 degrees before testing.

4. Once the temperature has been reached, pour a little of the liquid on to the cold plate and test with your finger. It should wrinkle up if the jelly is ready. If you see no wrinkle then return it to the heat and give it a few more minutes before checking again.

5. When the wrinkle test has passed, pour the liquid into the warm, clean jars and close to keep them sterile. Allow to cool completely before storing.