MESQUITE JELLY

Wendell & Mary Fox

MESQUITE JELLY

Find a mesquite tree with the beans turning red. (Some trees don’t turn red. They just dry up and turn brown.) Pick beans; mostly red, some green plump ones. Wash and snap. Cover with water and boil 45 minutes to 1 hour. Throw beans away. Save juice. Measure 5 cups of juice and bring to a boil. Add 1 box and 1/4 cup Sure Jell. Bring to a full boil. Add 7 1/2 cups sugar. Boil 5 minutes. Skim and pour into sterile jars and seal. Hot pack in boiling water for 10 minutes.

PRICKLY PEAR JELLY

Wendell & Mary Fox

PRICKLY PEAR JELLY

Pick red, ripe fruit with tongs and wash them using tongs. Place in kettle, adding enough water to cover. Boil until quite tender, about an hour. Press with potato masher to break skins. Strain the juice through 3 or 4 thicknesses of cloth. You will want to throw the cloth away. Measure.

2 1/2 cups Prickly Pear Juice

1 3/4 oz pkg Powdered Pectin

3 Tbsp lemon or lime juice

3 1/2 cups sugar

To 2 1/2 cups juice, add powdered pectin and bring to fast boil; stirring constantly. Add lemon or lime juice and sugar. Bring to a hard boil and cook for 3 minutes at a rolling boil. Remove from fire. Add food coloring (if desired). After skimming, pour into sterile jars and seal. Place in hot water and boil 10 minutes. In olden days it would be sealed with paraffin wax.

These cactus jelly recipes were sent in more for fun than for use. I once wrote Sure Jell Company and asked why they never had Prickly Pear Jelly in their flyer. They never answered me, but in 2 or 3 years they had Cactus Jelly in their flyer.