Welcome to the holiday gift(s) of Jelly of the Month Club!

Each December I try to do a themed event.  Thanks to Food ‘n Flix for the inspiration for 2019.   (You can read a further explanation here.)

This installment, Cardamom-Orange Sparkling Riesling Jelly, is another wine/booze inspired jelly.  Cardamom is one of those spices I associated with the holidays.   I love this jelly.   I gifted a jar to a co-worker who served it at her son’s birthday party.  She simply topped a block of cream cheese with it and served it with crackers.  She immediately texted me a photo of the spread with a huge “thank you.”   She said her guests loved it and were asking for more.

 

Cardamom-Orange Sparkling Riesling Jelly

Based on BH&G

Ingredients

• 1 orange (juice and peel divided)
• 3 1/2 c. sparkling Riesling
• 12 cardamom pods
• 1 (1.75 oz.) pkg. powdered pectin
• 4 1/2 c. sugar

Instructions

1. Sterilize jars and prepare water bath.
2. Wash orange well.   Using a vegetable peeler, peel off six orange peel strips.  Set aside.
3. Cut orange in half and juice.  You should have about 1/2 cup of juice.  Strain the juice to remove pulp and seeds.  Add bottled lemon juice to reach 1/2 cup if needed.
4. In a 6- to 8-quart heavy pot combine wine, orange juice, and pectin. Whisk until pectin is dissolved.
5. Lightly crush cardamom seeds and place seeds and pods in a fine-mesh tea ball.  (Or, you may put the spices in a double thickness of cheesecloth and tie it up with kitchen twine.)  Add spice ball (or bundle) to the wine mixture.  Add the six orange peels as well.
6. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add sugar.  Return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly and boil hard for 1 minute, continuing to stir. Remove from heat. Remove the spice ball and the orange peels.  Quickly skim off any foam with a metal spoon.
7. Ladle hot jelly into sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving a 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids and screw bands.
8. Process filled jars in a boiling-water canner 5 minutes (start timing when water returns to boiling). Remove jars from canner.  Cool.

Yield: 6 half pint jars

My cheap Riesling turned out to be of the sparkling variety.  It worked out well!

Stay tuned for more Jelly of the Month Club.