Lime Jelly!

This is a recipe for gelatin-free lime jelly. To be perfectly honest it was supposed to come out fruit jellies but I made a few critical mistakes in the process. It ended up great, though! Just not what I expected.

I'm going to put down the recipe I tried to use, but also add in my mistakes so you can either make fruit jellies or fruit jelly. Oddly this recipe for Lime Jellies involves more applesauce then lime juice, but it still tastes quite limey!

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups of sugar

the juice of 4 limes

the zest of 2 limes

1 1/2 cups applesauce (it's important the applesauce you use is unsweetened.)

for jellies 2 teaspoons powdered pectin, for the jelly 4 teaspoons liquid pectin.

Now this is the voice of experience talking: Don't use the wrong pectin!!! It can seriously affect your food if you do. The hard thing is most grocery stores only sell one kind. If this is so, then DO go to the trouble of finding the right kind. And if you end up buying the wrong thing, DON'T use some stupid "pectin conversion chart" from the internet like I did. Again, voice of experience.

The rest is fairly simple, however you do need a candy thermometer. If you are like me and really enjoy cooking and candy one of these is a good investment. It's somewhat critical to the making of ALL candies.

First is simple, combine the applesauce and lime juice in a medium deep saucepan. Now in a small bowl combine 1/2 a cup of sugar and the pectin, whatever kind. Now clip on the candy thermometer and mix them together until they reach 225 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don't have one of these dealies then wait until it boils. Keep mixing! While doing so add the remaining sugar (2 cups,) and then add the lime zest. Now pour into a buttered 8x8" brownie pan and let sit for a minimum of 2 hours. (NOTE: 8x8" is what I used. But be prepared for it to come out about an inch thick.) Once solid, sprinkle A LOT of sugar on top. If you're making jelly, you're done by now! If it's the candy jellies you seek, slice it into squares, dredge in sugar, and leave on a cooling rack overnight. :(

-Iris