Pomegranate Jelly

My husband and I are very lucky to have friends that are gardeners. A good friend's pomegranate tree has yielded plenty of fruit and we were given loads of pomegranates to enjoy. So for days, the boys, D. and I would eat one (sometimes two) every day.

After a couple of weeks, we barely made a dent on our pomegranate stash. But we also know we won't be able to enjoy these fruits once the pomegranate season is over. My husband had a great idea to preserve them so we can enjoy them in the summer as much as we are enjoying them now.

Pomegranate Jelly
makes about 9 cups

5 cups freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice, from about 15-20 fruit
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 packet (1 oz) powdered fruit pectin
6 cups sugar

1. In a 6-quart stockpot or Dutch oven, combine pomegranate juice, lemon juice and pectin. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Stir in sugar and bring back to boil, stirring constantly every 2 minutes. Let the mixture come to a rolling boil for about 10 minutes over medium heat.
3. Skim off any foam that appears on top and discard.
4. Let mixture come to room temperature. Once cool, can be refrigerated for about 2-4 weeks. Or can be kept in the freezer for up to 6 months.

so good, it's almost gone

My husband then used standard canning procedures for this jelly. That means sterilizing jars, submerging filled jars in water bath and so on which I will not through here. You can find more information about canning here.

This recipe makes a lot of jelly so you may reduce recipe in half. To make juice from fresh fruit, D ran the arils (seed sacs) through a juicer a few times. If you do not have access to fresh pomegranate, you can substitute bottled juice.

[On a side note, my husband made these weeks ago with the kids. I took plenty of pictures of the kids having fun in the kitchen. My youngest who just learned how to test a corn's freshness (by piercing a kernel with your fingernail, btw) tried to show off and tried it on a pomegranate. Let's just say red pomegranate juice splattered all over his face! Hilarious and so cute! I was going to post all these pictures but our hard drive crashed a few days ago so all the pictures are lost for now. :( All my other food pictures are gone, too. My husband is currently working on salvaging what he can so will keep you posted.]

UPDATE 2/10/09: Yay, hubby got the pics! Here's my son, the show-off. ;)