Spruce Tip Jelly
Wild spruce tips are foraged for their unique taste, then turned into an herbal jelly offering hints of lime. Delicious on a charcuterie board, this recipe requires five hours from start to finish.
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups washed spruce tips
- 6 cups water
- 2-4 cups sugar, amount required is to your taste and how sweet you like it
- 1 pkg pectin
- 1 pea-sized ball of butter or margarine (to prevent foaming and boiling over)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh preferably
Instructions
- Boil water and pour over cleaned spruce tips. Ensure all tips are covered. Allow to steep for 4 hours. The liquid may not be a palatable colour at this point but don't worry, good things happen later on.
- Strain the spruce-tip water into your boiling pot. Gently press the tips to obtain as much liquid as possible without squishing them too much.
- Bring the spruce tip water to a boil, add sugar, pectin and butter. Return to a hard boil. Add lemon juice. Return the liquid to a rolling boil. Cook the jelly until it is above 105 C (220 F). Experienced jelly makers can use other techniques to determine the consistency of their jelly such as the spoon test or the ice-water test.
- Process or store as desired. For canning instructions, follow steps 2-5 on Savour Calgary's Pickled Carrots recipe.