High Bush Cranberry Jelly

Some time in August I found a berry bush by my hubby's favorite fishing spot and picked a 4 litre bucket full of the bitter berries while my hubby and oldest son were fishing. Our middle boy had given up fishing and was helping me pick and then the oldest went back and forth a couple of times to to help. So I got this huge bucket of berries to work with.
This is the recipe that I found. I found it after doing a Google search and it brought me to Mother Earth News website, a site and magazine I just love for their ideas. It proved to be a pretty simple task. Thought I had to figure out what 1/2  bottle of liquid pectin was since my package come with two packets and not a bottle, so I did more internet searching and found out that 1 packet is equal to 1/2 the bottle. So that is what I use, 1 packet for this whole recipe. I did used the whole bucket and ended up with two amounts of 5 cups, so I froze the other 5 cups and used one of them 5 cups to make this recipe. And it worked it took a day to really set to a jelly and I was kind of scared I'd just end up with a syrup like the last batch but it took. The syrup by the way is great on pancakes and ice cream.

High-Bush Cranberry Jelly

4 pounds berries
2 cups water
7 cups sugar


Crush berries thoroughly in water with a potato masher and boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Pour mixture carefully into jelly bag or cheesecloth, hang and drain. Do not squeeze the bag: It will make the jelly cloudy. (You can squeeze the extra juice out later and use it to make cranberry juice or spritzers.) Let the bag hang for several hours or until juice stops dripping. Measure out 5 cups juice. Mix with the sugar in a saucepan.

Depending on how many partially ripe berries you have, adjust your pectin accordingly. An average batch uses a half bottle of liquid pectin or one 1.33 ounce package of powdered pectin. Bring juices to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Quickly add pectin all at once. Bring mixture back to a rolling boil and boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off the foam. Pour into clean, hot jars and process for canning. Makes 8 cups.

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I had to throw one in of my oldest and the fish, he caught two that day. His very first time catching fish.