Homemade Red Raspberry Jelly

I don’t think you can beat homemade red raspberry jelly.  I’ve tried.  I have purchased every red raspberry jelly on the market, I think.  They aren’t even close to this good.  The burst of raspberry sweetness in my mouth makes me happy.  Yep, I’m shallow like that.  Simple things make me happy, like soft, fresh donuts, my kids giving me hugs, bacon and homemade red raspberry jelly on soft, white bread.  Heaven!

So what does one do when they can’t buy the perfect jelly?  Well, they make it, of course.  And for me, it has to be jelly.  I hate, hate, hate all those seeds!

I try to make enough jelly each summer to last the entire year.  Which means no one’s getting this stuff for Christmas.  Are you kidding?!?!  It’s like liquid gold!

I lucked out this year.  I used raspberries from my Dad’s garden so I didn’t have the berry cost to add to these.  That makes a huge difference.  Because really, when you add up the cost of the berries, jars and the rest of the ingredients, these jars end up costing about $10 a piece!  See, that’s why I don’t give them away!

I just followed the directions on the pectin box.  Super easy.  So I’m not going to bore you with all the ingredients and stuff like that.  Buy a box of pectin and it’s right there.  Does that make me lazy???

I heat up the washed berries in a large pan.  You can add a little water if you’d like.

Then I strain them and mashed them through a metal strainer.  You could use cheese cloth and all that, but that’s confusing to me.  Old dog, new trick kind of thing going on there.

But after the berries are all strained, look at this pure red raspberry juice!  YUM!!!  Side note here – the box says not to squish the berries through a strainer because it may make the jelly cloudy.  What the heck!  I smash mine all to heck because I want every bit of juice out of those bad boys.  I don’t care if my jelly is cloudy.  I’m not entering it in the County Fair so I’m think I’m good with that decision.

Add your sugar and pectin according to the package directions and bring to a boil (again, read the direction for how long.)

Spoon into jars.

Doesn’t it look wonderful?

Yum.  Pure heaven!

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