We got to pick my parent's raspberry patch recently. It is a highlight of the summer - the kids are getting old enough that they can actually be helpers and know that we will make some delicious items with what we pick. I often make freezer jam with all of them, but this year I decided to make some raspberry syrup as well.
I stretched my berry puree with applesauce for the syrup just like I do with the freezer jam recipe. I used about 6 cups of berry puree and 2 cups of applesauce to get my 8 cups of fruit puree called for in the recipe. It was a little bit of guessing since I just poured some puree into my 2 qt measuring bowl and added applesauce and tasted to make sure it still tasted as much like raspberries as I wanted. You can use all berry puree if you want to. The applesauce just stretches the more expensive berries and we can make more syrup or jam that way.
This recipe is very versatile. You can use whatever variety or mix of fruit puree you would like. You can also buy the frozen juice concentrate at the store and turn it into syrup - let your imagination dictate the flavor you want to try.
Soft Set Jelly/Syrup
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8 cups fruit
juice or puree
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1 cup corn syrup
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½ cup lemon
juice
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1 ½–2 cups
Ultra Gel*
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4 cups sugar
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Combine fruit puree and lemon juice in a non-reactive pan. Combine sugar with 1 cup ultra gel and then add to fruit puree. Sweeten to taste with corn syrup (or honey or agave nectar - use the sweetener that you prefer) Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk
in additional ultra gel gradually until it reaches the thickness you desire - leave it thinner for syrup or thicker for jelly. Return to heat and boil 1 minute. Ladle into jars
immediately and process for 35 minutes in hot water bath. Makes approximately 5 ½ pints.
*Ultra Gel is the same as ultra sperse and instant clear-jel and these can be used interchangeably as the thickener in the above recipe.
**This recipe can be frozen instead of processed with great results.
***If you are on a sugar-free diet, use whatever you desire to sweeten this syrup. Just store it in the freezer instead of canning it since we are cautioned against canning an untested recipe.
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Ultra Gel is an instant thickener made from waxy maize (a type of corn). Although it is interchangeable with Ultra sperse, don't try to exchange it for Instant Clearjel. For one thing, the measurements are very different. Also, Instant clearjel won't stir into a hot syrup without lumps.
ReplyDeleteUltra Gel can be found at Amazon (prime) or at carnetfoods.com