I guess I picked just about the right time. We've had several days of cool and dry weather. Enough cool days for the berries to sweeten some and enough dry days that a few are starting to turn to raisin.
I picked 3 bushes; about a third of what's bearing fruit now. After boiling for 20 minutes and straining out the liquid, I had 4 cups of juice. After some fiddling around trying to not whack the bushes too much, I came to my senses and took a pair of clippers to the heavy ladened branches. Clip off the leaves and bring the rest inside. Hold over bowl, and the berries pop right off. First time around, I was trying to pick the berry bunches off the branch in the yard; all the while balancing crutches, bags and scissors. Back inside, it was tedious crazy getting all the stems out. The wack-a-branch method had no stem issues. Considering the jays and squirrels whack the branches and the bushes do fine year after year I think I'll do the same.
After a few hours standing and picking stems, I cooked the berries, strained the juice and stuck it in the refrig for the next day.
Tervy's Beautyberry Freezer Jelly
1.5 to 2 qts beautyberry to yield 3 cups juice
1 package No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin
3/4 cup Blue Agave Honey *
1/2 cup Organic Evaporated Cane Juice
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 pinch orange peel
Combine 2 quarts beautyberry and 2 quarts water in dutch oven and bring to boil. Reduce heat, gentle boil for 20 minutes.
Use your method of choice to seperate juice; I used a fine mesh sieve.
Combine in saucepan, 3 cups of beautyberry juice, 1 tsp Lemon Juice and 1 pinch orange peel.
Slowly stir in the No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin. Stir continously and virgorously until fully disolved.
Bring juice mixture to a hard boil and continue boiling for one minute. Stir constantly.
Remove sauce pan from heat and immediately stir in 3/4 cup Blue Agave Honey and 1/2 cup Organic Evaporated Cane Juice. Stir continuously for one minute.
Pour mixture into freezor jars; leaving 1/2" head space. Immediately cap, allow to cool for 30 minutes. Move to refrigerator to stand for 24 hours. Then freeze.
Should last 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
Yield - 2 Pint Jars
1.5 to 2 qts beautyberry to yield 3 cups juice
1 package No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin
3/4 cup Blue Agave Honey *
1/2 cup Organic Evaporated Cane Juice
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 pinch orange peel
Combine 2 quarts beautyberry and 2 quarts water in dutch oven and bring to boil. Reduce heat, gentle boil for 20 minutes.
Use your method of choice to seperate juice; I used a fine mesh sieve.
Combine in saucepan, 3 cups of beautyberry juice, 1 tsp Lemon Juice and 1 pinch orange peel.
Slowly stir in the No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin. Stir continously and virgorously until fully disolved.
Bring juice mixture to a hard boil and continue boiling for one minute. Stir constantly.
Remove sauce pan from heat and immediately stir in 3/4 cup Blue Agave Honey and 1/2 cup Organic Evaporated Cane Juice. Stir continuously for one minute.
Pour mixture into freezor jars; leaving 1/2" head space. Immediately cap, allow to cool for 30 minutes. Move to refrigerator to stand for 24 hours. Then freeze.
Should last 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
Yield - 2 Pint Jars
One for us, and one for my diabetic father-in-law. Yes, there is sweetener in this; but it is far less evil than sugar or artificial sweeteners. Compared to Strawberry Jelly, this recipe has 40% less calories. And I don't really know how to calculate the sugar stuff for diabetics.
Note to self: get thyself a good stevia plant cutting and get it growing in your garden. Pure sweetness; pure win. Not much worry for a diabetic.
The Italian Ice is an experiment. Using the remaining 1 cup juice and the same saucepan, I added about 1 Tablespoon of Agave Honey and 1/3 cup of Evaporated Cane Juice. Brought to a boil. Stirred until everything was good and dissolved. Transferred liquid to a container standing in ice water. Let stand for 30 minutes. Move to freezer. Every 45 min to 60 min for the next 4 hours or so; remove from freezor and stir with gusto. Potato Masher's work well. Preliminary reports - YUMM. While I think it could use a bit LESS added sweetness; I am reminded of my failed Peach Italian Ice when I used only 2 Tablespoons Evaporated Cane Juice. The sugar crystals are needed to keep the liquid from freezing into a solid block.
Recieved the golden seal of Hubs Taste Tested Approval. Quite good; not too sweet; but sweet. The actual color is a bit more lavender than this pink; but I was anxious to eat it.
Might just need to go pick the rest of the beautyberry's and make more.
* Not really honey. It is really syrup, and debatedly not any better for you than sugar or any other HFCS. Doesn't change the fact that I prefer to avoid white sugar. Perhaps just stick with evaporated cane juice?
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