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fruit syrup

15 years ago

hey ya'll. I haven't been around in awhile. Actually a really really long time. (about 4 years) So, since my last post I've moved half way across the country, gotten married and had a little guy. I also got addicted to a garden swap, but had to really curb that until my little guy can hold his own shovel. I think of ya'll often and the recipes that I've collected from here are amazing.

I want to make fruit syrup using store bought juice. I've made syrup before by following the jelly directions in the sure jell box, except only use 1/2 the pectin. This time I want to make cranberry/pomegranet syrup. The juice I have also contains pear juice and apple juice but is still 100% juice. Below I've listed a few of the proportions of juice to sugar out of the sure jell box. Which do you think make the most sense?

grape (5cups juice & 7cups sugar)

currants (6 1/2cups juice & 7cups sugar)

apple / crabapple (7 cups juice & 9 cups sugar)

sour cherry (3 1/2 c juice & 5 c sugar)

Thanks

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Comments (5)

digdirt2
15 years ago
They all sound really high in sugar to me so would be too sweet for us but that is a personal taste issue. ;) Especially since many of the store juices already have some sugar added to them unlike the fresh juice the recipes are based on. So I guess all you can do is make one and give it your own taste test.

There have been several 'syrup' discussions lately that a search will pull up for you if you want to review them. Many of them had recipes in them as I recall.

Dave
ksrogers
15 years ago
A syrup can also be made without pectin and all that sugar to help it set or thicken. The apple and pear are used mostly for the additional sweetness they impart. Cooking a juice down to half its original, will give a syrup. Cranberries are quite high in natural pectin. As an option to pectin, Clear Jel in a small amount will slightly thicken the juice and give you consistant results provided that you carefully add a little at a time while the juice is boiling. I mix a little with water or the juice with the Clear Jel to make a slurry. This is poured into the boiling juice. I like adding some acid blend to offset an otherwise overly sweet and possibly bland taste of the juice alone. Juicy Juice brand, to me tastes like overcooked juices and has no real character, unless your a kid just wanting sweet.
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kriswrite - you need to boil a lot of the water out of it. It does take a long time. IIRC, I would boil the peels and pits for 3 hours or so. And then it would be another hour or 2 before it would become syrup consistency. I would keep it on more of a low simmer at the beginning of the boiling process - so I could be doing other things. And then when it started getting close, I would turn it up to a full rolling boil and keep my eye on it. if you don't want to use a thermometer, you can test it similar to testing jam - put a bit on a frozen plate and check for thickness that way - you'll never be able to judge thickness when it is hot.
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My mom taught me to make apple jelly using the peels/cores. Here's the method: 1. Boil peels and cores with minimal water to extract the juice. (Strain and clarify as much as desired.) 2. Mix together 4 cups of juice and 1 box (1/3 cup) Sure Jell in a large pot. 3. Bring the juice to a full boil and then stir in 5 cups of sugar. 4. Bring it back up to a boil and boil for 1 minute. 5. Skim off any foam, pour into canning jars and process in boiling water bath for 5 minutes if under 1000 feet of altitude or 10 minutes if over 1000 feet. I find that this makes the most wonderful pink jelly if you use bright red apple peels. - Steve
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tietie
Original Author
15 years ago
the juice is 100% juice, no added sugar. However it is a blend. Since time is a constraint I need to use 1/2 box pectin and can't spend the time to cook down juice.
melva02
15 years ago
1:1.4 juice:sugar [grape (5cups juice & 7cups sugar)]
1:1.07 juice:sugar [currants (6 1/2cups juice & 7cups sugar)]
1:1.29 juice:sugar [apple / crabapple (7 cups juice & 9 cups sugar)]
1:1.42 juice:sugar [sour cherry (3 1/2 c juice & 5 c sugar) ]

I think those juice blends are usually at least half apple juice. And I agree with Dave that I wouldn't want it too sweet, since the juice is already blended for sweetness even with no added sugar. So personally I would try it with one of the lower ratios, maybe the one for apple juice (1:1.29 juice:sugar). But since your juice probably has a little less natural pectin than fresh-pressed juice, I would reduce the amounts a little. Maybe try 6 cups of juice to 7 3/4 cups of sugar (1:1.29), or 6 cups of juice to 7 cups of sugar (1:1.16).

Hope it turns out how you like it.

Melissa
gran2
15 years ago
welcome back! hope you'll log in more often now.

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