Recipe - Mulled Port Wine Jelly

1 Unblemished medium size;
eating orange
8 Whole cloves
1 Approx. 2 1/2" cinnamon;
stick; broken
6 Whole allspice; slightly
bruised
1 One half cup Boiling water
1 Three fourths ounce Box powdered regular pectin*
2 One half cup Goodquality red port**
4 One half cup Sugar

*Do not use the kind intended for lowsugar preserving.

**Or substitute Madeira, Marsala or a fullflavored red table wine. (I used
port.) This is a twostage recipe. One day (or at least several hours)
before you'll make the jelly, rinse the orange and stick the cloves into
it. Wrap the orange loosely in aluminum foil and bake it, set directly on
the shelf, in a 350 F. oven for 1 hour. Open the wrapping and check the
orange; if it is very soft and the juices have begun to caramelize inside
the foil wrapping, it is ready; otherwise continue to bake it until it is
soft and the juices in the wrapping are turning a rich brown.

Unwrap the orange and drop it into a deep bowl. Add the cinnamon and
allspice and mash everything together. Pour in the boiling water, cover
the bowl and let it stand overnight.

Pour the mixture into a sieve set over a bowl and press the solids to
strain off as much liquid as possible. Discard pulp and strain the liquid
again, this time lining the sieve with cheesecloth. Measure the liquid; if
you don't have 1 One half cups, add water.

Pour the liquid into a preserving pan. Add pectin and stir to eliminate
lumps. Set the pan over mediumhigh heat and bring the mixture to a boil,
stirring constantly. Boil it hard (at a boil that can't be stirred down)
for exactly 1 minute. At once add the wine and sugar. Lower the heat and
stir the mixture until the sugar has dissolved, 2 or 3 minutes; it should
not simmer, much less boil. Remove from heat.

Skim off any foam and ladle the jelly into hot, sterilized jelly glasses or
straightsided halfpint canning jars, leaving 1/2" of headspace in the
glasses or 1/8" in the jars. Seal the jelly in glasses with melted
paraffin; seal canning jars with sterilized canning lids according to
manufacturer's directions. Cool, label and store the jars.

If the jelly will be used within a few months, it may be refrigerated
unsealed but covered. Keeps, sealed, for a year in a cool pantry.

Yield: About 6 cups.

Witty writes: "Flavored with an orange that has been stuck with cloves and
roasted, plus a touch of whole cinnamon and allspice, this is a rich, deep,
darkflavored wine jelly, superb as a relish with venison, other game,
poultry, or cold meat.

"For making this, a premiumquality California red port is fine; you do not
need to invest in an imported bottle. Mulled wine jelly is also very good
when made with a fullbodied red wine Rhone, Burgundy, Zinfandel,
whatever you like the most." From _Fancy Pantry_ by Helen Witty. New York:
Workman Publishing Company, Inc., 1986. ISBN 089480037X. Pp. 13637.
Electronic form
Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #246

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 07:33:49 0400

From: kmeade@IDS2.IDSONLINE.COM (The Meades)