When doing research on historic foods, it can be very helpful to look at old newspapers for clues about when, how often, and in what way foods were written about. Though no one seems to know exactly why or when, at some point Americans traded their mint sauce for a mint jelly. And as the sheep industry grew, the custom of eating it with mint sauce established itself in American culture. Some European settlers who were familiar with mutton and mint sauce brought the recipe to North America, along with the domesticated sheep and the spearmint necessary to make it. There have been a number of different mint sauces historically popular throughout the world and one version, a mint and vinegar sauce, was commonly eaten on lamb and mutton in England at least since the 19 th century. The history of mint jelly is tied intimately with the history of lamb consumption. The slightly longer answer is: mint jelly, for all that it is forgotten now, was once a very popular and fancy condiment, with a long history tied to an industry that hardly exists anymore in the United States. The short answer is: the Homestead is hosting a virtual program next week featuring a historic Thanksgiving menu and mint jelly showed up in one of the recipes. Mint jelly is the most mundane sort of enigma. And if you are not putting it on lamb, is there another option? Can you eat it with peanut butter? Does it go on toast? Can you make fingerprint cookies or jelly donuts with it? It sounds weird. Does it taste weird? Like mint Jell-O? That sounds weird.Īnd what do you even do with mint jelly? Put it on lamb? We don’t cook a lot of that in Southern California anymore. It’s basically apple jelly, dyed an unnatural emerald color, with mint flavoring added. The recipe is not itself terribly exciting. I asked around and no one in my random sample of people had ever tasted it either, though most had at least heard of it, seen it, or read about it. If you want to can this recipe, you will need to use store-bought lemon juice due to to acidity needed when canning.Have you ever tried mint jelly? I hadn’t until this week.Jellies should not be placed in the freezer.Using a liquid pectin may produce a runny jelly. I have only used dry pectin, not liquid pectin.Only use pure butter, margarine will not work. If you don't use it, that's okay, you may want to skim the top of the jams and jellies to remove and discard any foaming that occurs. The butter is not necessary, but it does help with the foam onto of jams and jellies.Whenever making jam or jelly, use a very large pot as they do have a tendency to increase in volume, causing them to spill over the edges.When measuring the mint leaves, gently pack them into a one cup measuring cup.After pouring into your sterilised jars, wipe the rim clean, add the lid and ring until finger tight and water bath process.If canning, sterilise your jars as per proper canning standards before beginning this recipe.Use as an accompaniment to lamb, pork on even on toast. Follow proper canning instructions for processing – usually 10 minutes in a water bath. Once the mixture reaches a rapid boil, cook for an additional 2 minutes before pouring into sterilised canning jars. Slowly add in the sugar, whisking as you go, making sure the sugar is being stirred through and dissolves.
Whisk in the pectin and bring it back to the boil. If you were adding food colouring, add it now – a few drops at a time until you get the desired colour. The longer you let it stand, the stronger the mint flavour will be.Īfter straining out the leaves, measure out three cups of the liquid and pour it back into the saucepan.Īdd the lemon juice – if you want to can this recipe, you will need to use store-bought lemon juice due to to acidity needed when canning. The leaves will then need to steep in the water, bringing it to the boil and then letting it stand. First, wash, dry and roughly chop the mint leaves. If you want to make it green, add a couple of drops of food colouring, though I prefer to keep this more natural which is why it is not green.
Mint jelly is usually yellowish in colour. I used a bunch of it to make some mint extract, dehydrated another huge bunch of it and used some to make this jelly as well. Our mint plant has gone crazy over the last couple of months and desperately needed to be harvested.