Jam, jellies & marmalade
Practical Action
Apple jelly
Ingredients: (to make 0.8-1.0kg jelly)
1.8kg apples
1200ml water
Stick of cinnamon, a few cloves or cardamon (optional)
500g sugar per 500ml juice obtained
Selection and preparation of the fruit
Sort the fruit. Remove any rotten or bruised apples. Wash well.
Cut the apples into quarters but do not remove the skin or core (most of the pectin is contained in
the apple skin). Make sure you cut out any bad pieces of apple.
Preparation of the jars and lids
For glass jars: Wash the jars and lids and put them into a large saucepan.
Fill the saucepan with water so that the jars and lids are covered and heat until the water boils.
Let the water boil for about 5 minutes.
Remove the jars and turn upside down so that the water can all drain out.
DO NOT dry them with a dirty cloth.
If you are using recycled plastic jars, clean them with a solution of chlorinated water (100ppm).
Turn upside down so all the water can drain out.
Heat treatment
Put the fruit in a large pan with the water. Tie the cinnamon or cloves in a piece of muslin and
add that to the pan.
Cook over a low heat until the fruit is soft and pulpy. Remove the bag of spices.
Juice extraction
Place the pulp in a jelly bag (a piece of clean muslin cloth that is suspended over a bowl). Leave
to strain overnight. Make sure that the dripping juice is in a clean place where it cannot be
contaminated by flies and dust. Do not squeeze the bag to extract the juice as this makes the
juice cloudy.
Measure the juice into a large pan.
Heat treatment and addition of sugar
Heat the juice gently in a pan. Add the sugar (500g per 500ml juice) and stir until the sugar has
dissolved.
Turn up the heat and boil the mixture rapidly until the jam is set (use a refractometer if available,
a jam thermometer, the drop test or the wrinkle test). Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent
burning. Remove any foam from the surface of the jam with a wooden spoon.
Filling and packaging
Cool the jam to about 85°C and pour into the hot sterilised jars. The jars should be hot when
they are filled or they may crack.
Fill the jars to about 9/10ths of their volume. Place the clean lids onto the jars, fasten them
loosely and invert the jars to sterilise the lid with the hot jam.
If you are using plastic jars, let the jam cool to about 80°C before pouring into the jars.
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