Tuesday, August 30, 2011

MayPops Jelly

What are May Pops did you say??  May Pops... Wild Apricots as Shaun calls them... or Passion Fruit from the passion fruit vine that grows wild as Christmas at the Denton's.  Here's a couple of pics of what they are. 

 Notice the beauty of it all.  The purple flowers are gorgeous and the fruits look like limes.. but they sure don't taste like limes.
In all my lust for natural items on our farm (free stuff you can eat) I read in several library books that the fruits of this vine are edible.  If you have ever stepped on one out in a field you know that they make a pop sound and there's really not much to them but rind and seeds. 

I must say that I have found this to be very intriguing as I found a recipe online and started making jelly.  These fruits smell wonderful and come to find out they taste wonderful too.  I have had samplers of the jelly say that it tasted like white grapes, honey, and pear preserves .. without the pears in it.

So my short but sweet story on the recipe is this... I found one online and made it.  The jelly turned out so thick a knife would stand straight up in it.  In my mind I either added too much pectin or cooked the sugar mix too long.  The odd twist to this story is that I went to the library to pick up a book I had on hold called A Naturalist's Guide to Cooking with Wild Plants by Connie and Arnold Krochmal (which I have on order for my birthday) and the very recipe was in this book.  What are the chances.. I mean really.  The only difference in the online recipe and the recipe I found in the book was the amount of pectin to use.... key!  The book recipe said to use half of a 1.75 oz package of pectin... not 1.75 ounces of pectin.. which would cause it to harden up like a baseball... like it did the first time. 

I got to work when I finished cleaning up supper dishes that very evening, this recipe truly only takes about 45 minutes, start to finish.  I made the recipe with half a package of pectin and it turned out great.  The color was prettier, the consistency while not quite as set as I think it should be, was much better, and the taste is wild and wonderful.

MayPops Jelly
2 cups ripe maypops, sliced
1 cup water
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 package pectin that is 1.75 oz

Combine the maypops and water in a 3 quart saucepan and boil gently for 5 minutes.  Strain through a colander pressing to extract as much juice as you can.  Toss the skins and seeds(throw away.)  Combine the liquid and sugar and bring to a full rolling boil.  Add the pectin and again bring to a full boil.  Remove from heat, pour into hot sterilized jars, top with hot lids and seal. 
Makes 2 1/2 pints.



P.S. This is a rolling boil... when the boil can't be stirred down.

So I got a little carried away!  Saturday I made four batches.  It seriously didn't take but a few hours and for a winter's full of maypop jelly... it's well worth it!

7 comments:

  1. Super excited to try this! These vines grow wild on our backyard fence in the middle of a subdivision, and were amazed to find that they were not only edible-but coveted!

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  2. Hi, This recipe is the best. I used it a couple years ago and just yesterday again. Did mine a little differently. Peeled the Maypops, didn't use the skin. Cooked with water, then got the seeds out with a foodmill, then strained again in a collander. I used remaining liquid with your proportions of sugar and pectin and the consistency was really good. It's fun making something really great, from something growing wild on my property, that I didn't even know was edible before. Thank you so much for posting this! Glen

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    1. Hi, just curious, as a fan of this recipe then, can you say why it's necessary to squeeze the pulp/toss the seeds? I've eaten these things before and don't recall the seeds being an issue, and I know with something like blackberry jam/preserves, seeds can be almost unavoidable. I have about 6 cups of frozen maypop pulp (I picked them when they were turning orange, so the pulp inside is red, most of these recipes suggest using them much earlier if it matters), and was going to make preserves out of 'em the other eventually, unfortunately the question of the seeds and how much pectin I might have to use caused me to overthink things into it just not happening. :/

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  3. How do y'all get the seeds out with a mill? It crushes my seeds.

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  4. I've just found out that maypops will grow here on Southern Vancouver Island so I can't wait to get to the nursery for a starter vine!

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  5. I'm starting with already extracted juice. To use this recipe, how much maypop juice are you typically left with after cooking and removing the skin and seeds?

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  6. How much juice do you wind up with after cooking and removing the skin and seeds? I'm starting with juice but would like to use this recipe.

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