Hi, I have never done this before but yesterday I made it all up, poured it into my jars and this morning it's like liquid, not set at all.I spent hours de-seeding these things, boiling them up etc.Please help me - what do I need to do to make my jelly/jam set.should I re-boil it when I get home tonight, perhaps I didn't boil it long enough, the recipe said "boil until setting stage" but I don't even know what setting stage is.I'm a first timer at this, please help me!
uli,
Nov 15, 12:45am
Well setting stage is obviously NOT what you have got - otherwise you wouldn't be asking?
Have you made jelly or have you made jam?
Two quite different things.
How much (de-seeded) fruit by weight and how much sugar did you use?
nthwest,
Nov 15, 12:53am
I beleive it is suppose to be Jelly, the recipe said for each cup ofliquid add equal amount of sugar. I had 16 cups of liquid in total.
uli,
Nov 15, 1:10am
And how did you "arrive" at those 16 cups of liquid? Was there any water involved? If so then you will need to boil it down to evaporate the extra water.
And of course it is 1:1 on weight - so 1 cup of liquid will weigh 250g. Not sure what 1 cup of sugar weighs - but it could be a bit less - so over 16 cups there could be quite a difference ...
So yes - boil it until it sets - a very wide pot (or several) will help.
nthwest,
Nov 15, 1:21am
yes, there is water involved, I covered the fruit with water once I had the pips/stones out, put into a huge pot and brought to boiling point then back down to simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hrs as recipe stated, then sieved off the juice, brought back up to boil for 10 mins, then added equal sugar to liquid content and added a pinch of citric acid and boiled once again.But I seem to have made some kind of an awesome loquat syrup for ice cream and not the desired Loquat jelly.I have NEVER in my life before done anything like this but my tree is so loaded that the branches are nearly touching the ground and my friends have had enough of me giving them loquats so I thought I might try to do something constructive with them.Hence my jelly attempt - albeit my failure by the sounds of it.
margyr,
Nov 15, 4:28am
hi my sister makes quince jelly, I realise you have loquats but the method may be the same,and it is 1 cup sugar to 1 cup of the quince juice, she said she has to boil it for a couple of hours, so perhaps you are not boiling it long enough? good luck, they are yummy things and it does seem a waste to not do something with them.
margyr,
Nov 15, 4:30am
also just on the left is a search box, type loquats in the recipe box, then in the date posted click on the little arrow on the right and then anytime then click search, you may find some helpful tips/recipes there.
uli,
Nov 15, 4:41am
Maybe too much water, so boiling it down might help. Or maybe there is not enough pectin in the loquats, so you could add a couple of sachets of pectin powder and re-cook. Good luck! I have thousands too on my trees - but the possums are a great help, as are the birds.
buzzy110,
Nov 15, 6:10am
It is too late to make loquat anything. The very ripe fruit will not set no matter how much sugar you use. Toss it away or freeze it for sauce or drinks or whatever you can think of and next year make it from much greener fruit and remember to add in pectin/lemon juice.
Good on you for trying though. I set out to make some of my own a few weeks ago and couldn't be bothered to deseed. The resulting juice had a strong smell of almonds which means it was probably arsenic laden so I tossed that as well.
Oh well. Next year we may both do better.
nthwest,
Nov 15, 6:42pm
Thanks all for your help, I boiled it last night and it has now turned out perfect.I have a tree of those fruit that I think are called "Mountain Paw Paw" they are a kind of star shape and smell a bit like a banana.I had some of those which were ripe and since most people that I know don't like them I wondered what they would be like in a sort of jelly.So I boiled them down last night and made an awesome jelly from them, it is really lovely.I think you are all correct that I have not boiled anything for long enough, but I'm getting the hang of it.Thank you all!
nthwest,
Nov 15, 6:44pm
LOL, just waiting for those feijoas to turn up now as I don't like them (my trees are covered in feijoa flowers) but I'm sure my friends and family will love some jelly or jam from them.Watch out feijoa's - I'm keeping my eye on you!!!!!!
nthwest,
Nov 15, 6:47pm
I found a really simple way of de-seeding my loquats, I cut a small piece off of the bottom and gently squeezed and the pips/stones just popped out.I discovered this after hours of cutting them one by one and prying out the seeds.I still have loads of unripe ones on the tree.
margyr,
Nov 15, 6:48pm
thanks for the updates nthwest, and pleased it worked out ok.
uli,
Nov 15, 9:21pm
I eat mine fresh - they are big ones - so worthwhile to go the whole hog: peel, deseed and "gut" (= take the hard peel off the inside where the seeds were).
It takes me about half an hour to do a huge plateful - then eat it all in 5 minutes flat ... with some raw home smoked kune ham and some goats cheese :)
Great to hear it all worked out! Feijoas will be a long wait yet - my blackbirds and silvereyes are pollinating crazily at present - however the early fruit will only appear end of March!
meezy,
Oct 18, 3:51pm
Nthwest You can also make a yummy chutney with the Feijoas. My loquats are just ripening so was looking for recipies, I think I will go the jelly way. Thanks
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