Jelly
Prickly Pear Cactus Jelly
Prickly Pear Cactus Jelly is a low-sugar or low-honey cooked jelly made with Pomona’s Universal Pectin. Pomona’s Pectin contains no sugar or preservatives and jells reliably with low amounts of any sweetener.
Yield: 4 to 5 cups
Ingredients
4 cups cactus juice*
4 teaspoons calcium water
½ cup lemon or lime juice
¾ cup up to 1 cup honey or 1 ¼ cups up to 2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons up to 5 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin powder
*When processing prickly pears the basic process is to:
1. Collect the fruits using tongs placing them in 5 gallon buckets
2. Double rinse the fruit and let set in the water while we prepare for processing.
3. A bucket/bowl/kettle with a double layer of cheese cloth fastened in place with a rubber band/string/velcro strap/etc
.4. Using the tongs, place the fruits in the blender and crush for several seconds until there are no whole fruits left.
Most of the Glochids (thorns/stickers) will come off when they are in the water but it's still a good idea to use the tongs to place the fruits in the blender. Any thorns or Glochids that may still be left on the prickly pear are strained out through the cheese cloth.
5. Pour the pulp onto the cheesecloth and let drain into the bucket.
6. After the juice is finished dripping, place the plup into a mesh strainer and let drain while processing the balance of the fruit. Alternately, you can place the pulp in a cheesecloth bag and squeeze or press the juice out. A 5 gallon bucket will yield approximately 14 quarts of juice.
7. Boil juice to a full rolling boil.
8. Skim impurities off the top. Continue process until there are no impurities coming to the surface when at a full roll boil.
9. You are now ready to can the juice into jelly.
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Before You Begin
Prepare calcium water. To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well. Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
Directions
1) Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. Wash lids and bands and set aside.
2) Prepare prickly pear cactus juice.*
3) Measure juice into saucepan.
4) Add calcium water and lemon juice and mix well.
5) Measure sugar or room temperature honey into a bowl. Thoroughly mix pectin powder into sweetener. Set aside.
6) Bring juice mixture to a full boil. Add pectin-sweetener mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the jam comes back up to a boil. Once the jam returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.
7) Fill hot jars to ¼” of top. Wipe rims clean. Screw on 2-piece lids. Put filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil 10 minutes (add 1 minute more for every 1,000 ft. above sea level). Remove from water. Let jars cool. Check seals; lids should be sucked down. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.
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Tally
I’m making this recipe for the first time, and I’m curious to know if boiling the whole fruit before putting it the blender would have helped release more juice…
It just seems like there is a small amount of juice for the amount of fruit used.
Mercedes
How does one prepare the juice? There’s an asterisk but I don’t see what it refers to.
Shelby Collings
Hello Mercedes,
We are so sorry that information was missing! We have fixed it up for you now 😊
Happy canning!
Logan
Could juice from oranges be used in a pinch in place of lemon or lime juice?
Shelby Collings
Hello Logan,
Unfortunately, it cannot. It does not have an adequate pH.
Becky
I have used this recipe for 3 batches. Two on the low end of the sweetener range (3/4c buckwheat honey) and one on the high end (2c). The taste is great!
The consistency is fine when the jelly is refrigerated, but at room temp it is very runny, more like a thick syrup. I followed the recipe, used 5t of pectin, and didn’t overboil. It isn’t that big of a deal because jelly is refrigerated after opening anyhow, it just seems odd. I have had jelly not set up before, but not like this. Anyone have any tips or ideas about why this may have happened or how I can avoid this in the future?
Shelby Collings
Hello Becky,
Great question! It sounds like your batch just needs a bit more calcium and pectin. We would recommend adding an addition teaspoon of each and your jell should hold better, even when on the shelf.
Happy jamming!
Becky
Thanks, Shelly!
Cristina
We enjoy prickly pears, usually just peal and eat raw. Have never juice them. How is prickly pear cactus juice?
Anna Stange
The plain juice (after cooking down the prickly pear to release the juice) is a rather dry taste.. A little citrusy, reminds me of Red Zinger tea.. Not particularly sweet.
Mickey
I use a potato peeler so I can peel the skin off without taking off too much of the fruit underneath. I make a small slice down along the side. Then I take my fingers along the cut and get just under the fruit, which is a very thin layer around a very large seed ball, and peel it off. I juice the fruit and then take the seed balls put them in water to just cover, and boil them until the seed balls are broken down. I then stain that and add that to the juice. You’d be amazed at how much juice you get from the seed balls, especially since you get so little from the actual fruit of the prickly pear. Even though I purchase my fruit from a store, I still end up with a few thorns, just have a pair of tweezers handy afterwards. Hope this helps..
Denis
Cristina, from your comment, I’m thinking you eat the green oval leaves of the Prickly Pear – in Spanish “Nopal” (accent on the a). They also produce a red or purple fruit called “Tuna”. The ideal time to harvest them is mid-August to early September. I have never heard of anyone trying to make jelly or jam from the leaves. They can be eaten raw or cooked. However, the “Tunas” have a shell with stickers & inside a juicy pulp with lots of seeds. From the juice, the jelly is made.