GUAVA JELLY

Given a choice, Anu mausi would practically live on guava jelly ! :) She loves it thaaaaat much. As you know, we spread it on bread just as we spread jam, but Anu mausi loves to eat it like halwa :)

The speciality of any jelly is that it is transparent, it can take the shape of the container, it is not sticky and so can be cut with neat edges.

Way back in 1976, I attended a workshop on food preservation conducted by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in our campus in Bhopal. ( I have a certificate and I could start a manufacturing unit, but I didn't:) ) Of all other products like jam, marmalade, squash, pickles, etc. that I learnt there, guava jelly became the most favourite of all at home because of its flavour and also appearance. It is so nice to see and taste a transparent jelly with a rich flavour of guava. So I have made it a point to prepare jelly every year during the guava season. But nowadays guavas have become very rare. But two days back, I couldn't believe myself when I heard a man selling `Allahabad' on a Thela in front of our house! (Allahabad is known for very good quality guava, but here any type of guava, whether it is small, hard, seedy, rotten...... is referred to as Allahabad :), but not as guava). So, now though they were not of very good quality, they met the other requirements.... almost the same size and just right stage of ripeness (yellow but firm) to make jelly. So I immediately bought about 40 of them in the noon and by late evening jelly was ready.

Jelly gets its beautiful consistency because of the high pectin content in the guavas. It is a very easy, but a time consuming process, needs a little patience, but it is really worth all the trouble. And it is really surprising that it is not at all available in the shops. No jam companies make them. Don't know why. So if you really want to prepare,

here is what you need to make the jelly:

Ingredients:

Guavas 1 Kg -yellow in colour-just ripe and firm but not soft(cut into 1/2cm slices
as shown in the picture)
Sugar 1 Kg
Water 1 litre
Citric acid 5 gms. ( 1 heaped teaspoon)

Procedure:















Take a thick and wide bottomed vessel and arrange the guava slices in it and add one liter water so that all the slices are fully immersed in water. Boil for about 45 minutes on a low flame. Never stir it. We have to get a pure pectin extract to get a transparent jelly. If you stir it, small particles or pulp of guava get mixed up and jelly won't turn transparent.(left over pulp can be used to make toffee or burfi).

Now, strain this through a thin cloth. Add sugar, citric acid and boil. Filter this after the sugar is dissolved. Boil till it reaches 222 F or 105.5C.
















If you don't have a thermometer, you can test the end point through what is known as a sheet test. This is done by taking the product in a flat spoon. When you hold the spoon horizontally, instead of falling as drops, the contents form a sheet as shown in the picture.














It means that the process is complete. Switch off the flame and transfer immediately to the jars.

How to store:

Keep ready two or three washed and dried glass jars and keep them in a trey of water so that about an inch of the bottle is immersed in water. Keep a spoon in the jar. The jelly is still in liquid form and pour it immediately after taking out from the fire. Keeping the jars in water and keeping spoons inside the jars prevents jars from breaking due to expansion from heat. Fill till the neck of the bottles. Half cover with lids till it attains room temperature. Then close the lids fully. From 1 kg fruits you will get about two standard half kg jam bottles of jelly.

Some other info: Usually I get a golden yellow coloured jelly. But this time it is dark, like Pears soap! This might be because, the quantity was more and the vessel was small and hence the evaporation became slow and the contents were on the stove for a longer duration.

There is a test for the quantity of pectin that is in the extract. You take two teaspoons of pectin extract and add one teaspoon of spirit and shake. A white precipitate is formed. Pour into an empty glass. It may fall as 1 lump or 2 lumps or many lumps depending upon the quantity of pectin in the extract. Accordingly you have to use 1kg, 3/4 kg and a little less than 3/4 kg of sugar for 1 kg of fruit.

I do not follow this, but I use sugar on an approximate basis. If you market it, then better follow all these. You can also get an instrument called `gelmeter' which of course, I haven't even seen :))