Jelly making

It is jelly I am making(without any pieces of fruit)

I was hoping there might be others in the same predicament as mine where they have made the jelly only to find it is much too liquid and wary that (as has happened in the past) any further boiling will just ruin the final product ,turning it into something more like a paste than a jelly.

Even when I had ,in other years bought bottled pectin and added it to my half finished liquid (far too good for throwing out-it can still be used for sauces) it was not entirely satisfactory and was a bit brutal as a procedure.

I think I might have to prepare small amounts at a time as they seem to work better for some unknown reason and any damage is limited if things still don't work.

Is that long boil before you strain off the skins etc or after you have added the sugar?

I find that boiling it with the sugar for too long doesn't do the job.It just gets thicker and thicker without setting any better.

I have tried a preliminary long boil (without the sugar ) and while it worked well I don't remember it being any better.

What I have taken to doing is doing a short boil and pouring off the liquid without straining.

This works very well sometimes but not always and I think the fruit has to be right to do this (not too ripe I suppose)

Since we have animals that love the dregs I give them this and perhaps I give them too much of the pectin for my purposes.

Apples have always worked extremely easy for me as they must be naturally full of pectin.Same with red currants.Never a problem.

But blackcurrants are a bit hit and miss.Sometimes they can be a bit ripe and sometimes ,perhaps I may be in too much if a hurry and not boil the skins long enough.

Yes,I have added a bit of apple in the past and the blackcurrant tolerates it very well as it is such a strong flavour.

Sloes sound interesting .A lot of the bushes in our area have died though and I would have to keep my eyes open later this year to see if I can find any more.

A friend makes slow gin ....