Basil Jelly

Basil jelly, I knew as soon as I read the words I had to try it, especially since my basil plant is the size of a small tree! I did a search and found several recipes. Some were REALLY basic and seemed like they would be a bit blah, others too complicated and overdone. I decided to mix and match from several recipes and here's what I came up with:

• 4 cups water
• 2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
• Squeeze fresh lemon juice
• 2 drops green food coloring, optional
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 ounces liquid pectin ***

Start by chopping the basil, I used my food processor, until coarse. 

Bring basil and water to a boil. Remove from heat, add squeeze of lemon, cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain out leaves and ladle 2 cups of strained liquid into separate saucepan. 

Add the vinegar, salt and sugar and bring to a hard boil, stirring. When the boil can't be stirred down, add the pectin and food coloring. Return to a hard boil and boil for 1 minute then remove saucepan from heat.

Skim off the foam and ladle the jelly into five hot, sterilized (sterilized in boiling water for 10 minutes) half-pint jelly jars. Leave ½-inch (or less) headspace and seal at once with sterilized 2-piece lids. Place in boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

  

***Ok, so I finished my jelly and tucked it away to set up... only it didn't. It's super liquidy which leads me to the conclusion that 3oz of pectin is not enough. I'm going to experiment and add more pectin until I get the desired consistency. I'm also going to adding in a little more lemon juice to up the acidity, as that may be part of the problem. Will let you know how it tastes as soon as I get the finished product! If anyone tries this and gets the right combo, please share!! XOXO