This is I would say my last jelly or jam of the Autumn and I have made it this year later than most.

This is another one which I pinch from the hedgerows and would qualify (if sugar were free ) as A Food for Free.

Mind you it is not all pinched from the hergerows, the grapes are pinched from the vineyards- but not until abandonned by the winemaker.
Nowadays the vast majority of wine here is made from grapes which have been picked by machine.
This is done by a strange tall contraption which hoovers the grapes off their stems.
However clever it is it always leaves a few grapes after it.
If the farmer hasn’t sent out some workers to the fields to glean these within a few weeks (and they never do ) I reckon they are mine for the picking.

These I put through my faithful Mouli Legume (see previous entry) which neatly separates the juice from the seeds and skins.

I tried making a little pot of jelly from this juice but it was a bit characterless and sweet.

At the same time as I was gleaning the vinyards last year the pomegranates were reddening nicely on the hedgerows.
With these I discovered that my orange juicer (a sort of huge garlic squeezer on feet) did a superb job of juice extraction.
Jelly made from this was a little caustic for spreading on croissants.

Fifty fifty worked a treat last year , just the right blend of acidity and sugar.

This year I decided to do the same but, unfortunately the Pomegranates were slow this year so I froze my Grape Juice awaiting their partners.
This happened last week.

I mixed the juices half and half.

I had a litre of each.

In a large pot I mixed these with two kilos of special jam sugar and then heated this gently until the sugar was completely melted.
Then I divided this between two pots, put it on the heat and brought it to a rolling boil.

I boiled it for five minutes, as they said on the packet, then tested it for setting on a cold saucer-no set.
This was unusual but maybe one or other of the fruits are low in pectin.
Anyway I gave both pots another five minutes of vigorous boiling and they both showed signs of setting then.

For those not in the know I have ready a saucer, cold in the fridge.
To test for setting I put a small tablespoon on the saucer, put it back in the fridge, then after a couple of minutes I take it out.
If pushed with my finger it then should wrinkle up.

The second time I got the desired reaction so I potted the lot.
I got nine jars of a little less that a half kilo.

So that is it and the store cupboard is now nicely full of jams and jellies.