I was given about 10 pounds of pomegranates by our friend Farmer Bob. He is a real farmer and has lots of fruit and veggies in his personal garden that he shares with us. I didn't know what to do with them outside of using them for decoration, so I decided to try my hand at jelly. I've never canned a thing and didn't own any of the stuff needed to do this. Off to Walmart I went to buy the goods. I get to Walmart only to find out that it isn't canning season and their supply is limited. I was able to get a big pot, but nothing else. The grocery store did have jars and my friend Kate supplied the jar lifter. Armed with my Ball canning book I began. What I didn't know was how long it was going to take to juice pomegranates - 10 took about 1.5 hours. We picked the seeds from the fruit then then cooked 6 cups of the fruit for 5 minutes for 1/2 cup of boiling water, then put it in cheese close and began to bludgeon the seeds until we got 3 1/2 cups of juice. It was messy and oh well, with my daugher, Emily's help we got through it. We put it in the fridge and called it a night.
The next day I hauled all the stuff out again. I also bought fresh Pom juice to add to my juice, as we needed 4 cups of juice and we only had 3 1/2. It didn't take long, was a bit messy but I again got through it. But, my jelly isn't jelly. It seems to be pomegranite syrup. It didn't set up, as they say. I now have two options and haven't decided which one I'm going with. I can A - call it Pomegranate Syrup and give it as gifts or try to re-make. I did find a recipe online for remaking runny jelly. Stayed tuned and I will let you know what we decide to do. I'm also going to try and remember to take more photos of my kitchen antics as they occur.
