Failed jelly, delicious alternatives
We’ve talked about failed jelly before.
As predicted in my last post, my creamsicle jelly didn’t set. I accidentally diluted my orange pectin with twice the amount of water called for in Linda Ziedrich’s recipe. A failure to read and reduce my recipe properly. No biggie.
We are not crying into our creamiscle syrup over here.
;)
Creamsicle yogurt makes you look forward breakfast. (I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I’m already thinking about breakfast before I go to bed at night.)
Or, say you make doughnuts. Or zeppoles (a fancy name for doughnut holes). ;)
Your syrupy jelly will make a fine glaze. Use it straight up or add a tablespoon or two of powdered sugar to 1/4-1/2 cup of syrup to make a wonderful glaze and/or dipping sauce!
You can be sure that I’ll also be spooning some of this syrup into some club soda for a fizzy sweet treat!
What kinds of things do you do with your jelly mishaps?
Canning
Reader Comments (10)
I am personally not a big toast and jam person. I often find myself warming my jams and diluting them to make sauces and syrups anyway. So, I am never all that heartbroken when they don't set up. My question is what to do when you have the opposite problem and your jelly turns to rubber?
My favorite failure was ginger-pear not-so-jam.....it was a wonderful chunky syrupy mess. I used it place of the oil in a plain quick bread recipe and it was the most wonderful bread. I'm not sure what I did that year because since, I've made plain old ginger-pear jam that turned out ok. Six years later, I still have friends asking for that bread!
My blueberry strawberry jam didn't jam so I now have awesome pancake syrup!
Nicole,
If you like tea, you can drop a chunk of your chewy, overly-set jellies/jams in there and it melts into a nice infusion! I gifted a bunch of my chewy honey apple jelly as hot tea sweetener.
I made a sorbet out of a failed blackberry and apple concoction once (How can you fail with apples?? That's like the motherload of pectin!). It was not a perfect sorbet, and next time I think I'd add some alcohol of some kind to keep it from getting too solid when frozen, but you know, it wasn't half bad. We also stirred some up in hot water to make hot fruit drinks (with a sludgy bit at the bottom of the cup, alas). Looks like you would also be able to glaze tarts or even meats with failed jellies, but of course if you've got jars and jars of it, solutions that use just a few spoonfuls at a time aren't the ones that jump to mind.
We love to use unset jellies as syrup for pancakes. We have even made it that way on purpose! It is also delicious on ice cream.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Delicious-Raspberry-Oatmeal-Cookie-Bars/Detail.aspx
I use my not-quite-set jellies/jams in this recipe, since you spread it anyway. I wouldn't use anything that's TOO watery, but any flavor will work. My favorite has been nectarine.
My apple jalapeno sauce and my melon ginger sauce combine into a delicious dipping sauce for Chinese dumplings.
Thanks for the tip on the overcooked jams!
So I'm not the only one who thinks about breakfast the night before!?!? :) Really, mostly my favorite cup of morning latte.
(1) Added to milk and plain yogurt to make summertime frozen yogurt
(2) Spread on whole wheat bread dough, roll it up, and bake
(3) Marmalade Quick Bread or Muffins (works with any jam, set or not)
(4) Mix with other fruit for interesting tart fillings
(5) Turn plain oatmeal into fruity-good oatmeal