So, I made the above jelly with the following changes to the recipe: Used 1 1/2 cup dried chopped apricots, 1 1/2 cup dried chopped peaches, 1 1/2 cup dried chopped cherries. I also doubled the vinegar and added a little more sugar (mainly cause the fatalli pepper, even though I deseeded half of them, were SOOOOOOO hot). I kept the onion, bell pepper, and hot pepper the same as the original. I also ended up NOT adding pectin since I was going for a glaze consistency, I found the sugar alone was fine. Now, this mix tasted excellent and we used it on chicken thighs as a glaze. It was sweet and fruity and hot all at the same time and the chicken looked beautiful with the chunks of dried fruits and the shiny sugar glaze. However, it was very very chunky since I added all that extra dried fruit. My question this time is can I use commercial fruit juice preps that are not 100% fruit to increase the fruity flavor but not add more chunks of dried fruit to the mix? I think I want to back down the amount of dried fruit (I want more glaze than fruit) but I want to maintain the very fruity flavor I got from the extra fruit. I have black cherry extract (100% cherry) and then I have apricot and peach nectar that are only 45% fruit and have some water and sugar added. I want to mix these, possibly cook down to eliminate volume, add some dried fruit for looks (but not near as much as before), then make the rest of the recipe as written originally? Any problems here? Any suggestions?? thanks Kendra

I too dislike calcium fortified milk and OJ, and lactaid milk is simply milk that is either calcium fortified or not, but its natural sugar is not lactose sugar, as they use an enzyme to convert the lactose sugar into another type that can be easily digested. Because I am lactose intolerent, I cannot digest regular milks and don't like the chalkiness of the calcium fortified type. Yes, I do feel that you may be a bit too critical when you stated that you don't like the chalkiness of Pomona. I think it may be due to the fact that it is derived from citrus, which are naturally higher in a form of calcium, and not because of the addition of a minute amount of calcium carbonate. Interesting point to note, there is more baking soda or baking powder (also the same calcium carbonate) in a biscuit, or another leavened baked food. You may be detecting the differences of the Pomona pectin's origin from what its made from, and not the added tiny amount of calcium used to get it to set. When kids are brought up in families and the parents had distastes for certain healthy foods, the kids seem to also be against eating these foods. An example was my sister inlaw who didn't like peppers or tomatoes, as well as all fish. She simply has never had these foods to taste, until she married my brother who, in our family had never been swayed by any food choice of any kind. Now, my sister inlaw cant get enough of these previously disliked foods. I'm not saying that you should give Pomona a try again, but to say its chalky, is something I have never encountered here, and have used it for many jams and jellies after having terrible results with Sure Jel, Certo, and most other common brands of pectin. I wouldn't even attempt to make a jelly without some added pectin of some kind, only because all the other types must have some massive amouunt of sugar, except the no/low sugar pectin, which is not one of my favorites either, its almost like adding a package of Jello when it sets up, and it gets quite watery after a very short time unopened or opened and refrigerated.

Carla, Unless you fell to sleep holding the jar (something I might do at times LOL), they should never be upside down that long. When I said invert and right the jars I should have said invert the jars for a second and right it a few times every 5 minutes or so. You really donÂt want the hot contents heating up the cooling lids too much. Thinking about your safety question further, you could try reprocessing as smokemaster suggested but, if you are truly concerned about food safety you should "replace" the snap lids with "new" ones and reprocess as per the original method and time. Leaving the hot/warm jars settle upside down may have compromised the original lids. Bill

Oops, it's Butterscotch, not Vanilla pudding. Natal, I just have this fear of the loaves falling over without a baking sheet, even though I've done it before but not the amount I plan to bake. Okay, no baking sheet then. Bumble, they're quick breads. Here's the recipe for the Pumpkin Bread courtesy of Kraft Magazine. I bet the texture of this is dreamy! Pumpkin Bread 2 1/2 c. Flour 2 t. Baking Soda 1/2 t. Salt 1 t. Cinnamon 1 t. Nutmeg 1 sm. box Instant Lemon Pudding Mix 1 sm. box Instant Butterscotch Pudding Mix 1 c. chopped Pecans 1 15oz. can Solid Pack Pumpkin 2 c. Sugar 1 1/2 c. Vegetable Oil 5 Eggs In large bowl mix first 8 ingredients and set aside. In separate bowl, mix Pumpkin and remaining 3 ingredients until smooth. Combine both mixtures and pour into greased loaf pans. (Makes 16 mini pans) Preheat oven to 350 and bake for approximately (mini pans) 20-25 min. Larger loaf pans will take longer to bake.