I came home from Yuma on Christmas night with a bucket of pomegranates from my dad's tree and a handwritten recipe for jelly. The jelly making had officially been passed off to me. I was the chosen one. The next generation of pomegranate jelly making. About a week later, after going to four stores to get my supplies, I began squeezing my pomegranate seeds at about 1:30, Bella was down for a nap and the older two were at school. I figured I'd have some nice jelly for the kids to try in about two hours when they got out of school. What I had two hours later was a cup and a half of juice from about 7 pomegranates. I needed four cups of juice before I could begin my jelly. Lizzy chipped into help while it looked interesting, that lasted for about ten minutes or so. I was finally ready to make the jelly about 8:00 that night. After a few consults over the phone with my dad, I began to boil the mixture. Soon enough, I had a bubbling red pot of liquid that looked like an excellent witch's brew. As I was enjoying this unique boiling process, it began to grow and grow, and my dad's last bit of advice came back to me, "Make sure you have a really big pot." As I realized my pot was not big enough, it began to boil over. I screamed at mark to get Bella out of the kitchen, removed the mixture from the heat, and began pouring it into my jars. Soon enough, I had 8 jars full of red liquid, not to mention another jar's worth of jelly all over my flat top stove, and was ready to do the final step in the canning process, reboil the jars for five minutes. Well, to make a long story short, my jelly did not jell by the next day, and I had to re-boil the mixture, re-sterilize my jars, get new lids, and pray for some jelling. The second batch seems to have jelled, at least the first jar I have opened has jelled. Kim reminded me part way through this two day process that grape jelly was on sale at fry's for 88 cents. However, how many people can say they know how to make jelly????? The most exciting part of the process is when you take the jars out of the boiling water, and they start popping, as the jars seal. THAT is an exciting sound. I think I am going to try jalapeno jelly next. As soon as I get all the stickiness out of my kitchen!
