How to thicken this cranberry-pepper jelly

cooking-timecranberriesjellypectinthickening

In my first attempt at making jelly, I seem to have veered off course.

I'm following this recipe for Cranberry-Pepper Jelly:

Ingredients

  • 3 red bell peppers, finely chopped
  • 2 Fresno or red jalapeño chiles, seeded and finely chopped
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup liquid pectin
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 3 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen and thawed

I combined the peppers, chiles, sugar, pepper flakes, and salt in a large pot and brought it to a simmer over medium heat, as instructed. I then added the pectin and lemon juice and continued simmering for 10 minutes, as instructed. Finally, I added the cranberries and simmered for an additional 10 minutes or so until their skins burst.

During this entire process I observed the "jelly" was very runny. I sort of expected it to be somewhat runny based on the recipe reviews on Epicurious. The reviews stated that it was more of a relish than a jelly.

The problem is, mine is more of a soup than a relish. I put it in a jar in the refrigerator overnight, thinking that perhaps all it needed was cooling, but it is only marginally thicker than when it was hot.

Question

How can I fix this ridiculously soupy jelly? Can it be saved simply with additional heat, sugar, or pectin? I'd rather not go to the grocery store today (day before Thanksgiving) to get additional cranberries if it can be avoided. I have all ingredients but the peppers and cranberries on hand.

Best Answer

I found a site with another cranberry sauce maker complaining of the end product being too runny. What I learned is that cranberries have lots of natural pectin that is released when they are cooked past bursting.

If it were me, I would:

  1. cook it some more, keeping it at a boil but watching it carefully so it doesn't boil over and does not start to scorch at the bottom of the pan (in other words, stir and WATCH IT!)
  2. When the cranberries have deflated from releasing their inards and some of the excess liquid has either boiled off or thickened, your recipe should be salvageable.

Best of luck!

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