Last year I grew a couple of mint plants in containers on my patio. Apparently some of the mint escaped because I have a huge volunteer mint plant growing in the landscaping next to my patio. I am perfectly happy to have mint growing in my garden, especially if the mint crowds out weeds. Yesteryear I made some mint extract. This year I decided to try my hand at mint jelly. My recipe produced almost three pints, so I plan on making lamb for New Year’s Day this coming January as well as in the spring for Easter. (Also, please ignore the mess on my stovetop. I have been canning a lot of applesauce recently and keep spilling on my stove!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup of fresh mint leaves and stems
- 5 cups of water
- 6 tablespoons of pectin
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- green food coloring (optional)
- 4 cups of sugar
Directions
- Chop up the mint leaves and stems.
- Place the chopped mint in a saucepan.
- Cover with 5 cups of water.
- Boil for 20 minutes.
- Blend the boiled mint with an immersion blender.
- Boil the blended mint for another 5 minutes.
- Strain the mint water from the boiled mint.
- Return 4 cups of mint water to a clean saucepan. Add water if necessary to make 4 cups.
- Whisk in the pectin and lemon juice. Add the food coloring if desired.
- Heat the mint water to a roiling boil.
- Whisk in the sugar.
- Boil for 5 minutes or until jelly begins to set. Spoon off any froth.
- Transfer the mint jelly to prepared pint jars, leaving, 1/4-inch headspace.
- Boil the jars in a water-bath for 5 minutes.
Also check out my recipe for Pink Apple Jelly.
Image Credits
Mint Jelly Recipe © 2019 Heather Johnson
Fresh Mint for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Mint Leaves and Stems for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Mint and Water for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Boiling the Mint for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Boiled Mint for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Blending the Mint for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Boiling the Blended Mint for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Straining the Boiled Mint for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Mint Water for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Pectin for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Sugar for Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Boiling the Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson
Transferring the Mint Jelly to Jars © 2019 Heather Johnson
Mint Jelly in Jars © 2019 Heather Johnson
Mint Jelly © 2019 Heather Johnson