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Using a jelly bag.... rules?


Edward J

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Last week a "reg" customer dropped off almost 30 lbs of quince; firm, and still a tiny bit green with a minimum of fuzz.

I've never used quince before, and dutifully researched what to do with it. I came up with two uses:

1) jelly

2) a dried fruit pastes or butter

I opted for jelly, and went out and bought a jelly bag. I washed the quince, took the stem and blossom ends off, and cut then into about 1 1/2" chunks and then simmered them soft.

But it takes forever to drip out.

I know enough not to squeeze the bag, but at 4 hours I finally dumped the solids out and started straining another batch of solids. When I left work tonight, I still had another 5 lbs of solids to strain, so I dumped it all into the bag, set the strainer on top of a large pot, and shoved the whole thing into the fridge.

I am uncertain of letting fruit juice strain overnight at room temps. Is this O.K. to do?

Can I agitate the bag with a spoon to increase flow, or should I just wait?

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How liquid is the mixture you're putting into the bag? I've never experimented with a bag, but I've watched others do this, and usually something very juicy was used, and the mixture in the bag was quite liquid.

However, I have worked quite a bit with quinces (I put the pulp through the finest plate of a food mill). It's never occurred to me to try to get a clear gel from them, but if I was going to give this a go, I'd add a lot of water; quince is mostly dense pulp, and although it contains a fair amount of water, I believe the pectin in it sequesters it, so the pulp does not easily part with its juices.

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
Manager, eG Forums
mscioscia@egstaff.org

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You could possibly try a double-strain: squeeze/press the juice out of the solids, then let that cloudy liquid slowly drip through the bag. Of course, my experience with jelly bags is hazy memories of my mother making preserves 30 years ago.

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Hi, thanks for the replies.

No, what I did is to cover the quince with just enough water, no sugar. Tomorrow I will mix sugar with the juice and a little lemon, cook until it "sheets", and put up in 1/2 pint jars.

I really like the smell of quince--like apples and rosewater, and am really anticipating the jelly. The juice has a rosy pink colour to it.

First time with a jelly bag, it does plug up with pectin and solid matter. For a while there I was thinking to mash it all up, strain it coarse, and "clear" it with eggwhite, a'la consomme. Today, I just left the whole thing in the fridge and let it drip-dry.

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My first experience with a jelly bag was a couple of years ago making currant jelly. It took 4 hrs for it to strain, it was so ridiculously slow, like 2 drops a minute. But the jelly in the end was beautiful and clear. I've not used quince before, but I just had to commiserate on the slow straining :)

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How did you prepare the jelly bag? I've found the regular bags are a bit too dense for very pulpy fruits. I use butter muslin - extra fine muslin.

I used to have to order it from a specialty store but now Amazon has it.

You have to wash it in hot water (plain) twice, to remove the sizing. Wet it thoroughly and wring it out before using it to strain anything.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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