Japonica Jelly

Out by the dog kennel there are these Japonica plants. In spring they have lovely pink/red blossoms, but more recently I noticed they are bearing a little yellow fruit.

I asked Farmer Godfrey about them and he told they were Japonica apples and could be used to make jelly in much the same way as quinces are. I needed no further encouragement, and yesterday I picked all I could find. I think it was quite a late harvest as lots were small and shrunken, but I figure this would only make the jelly sweeter and more flavoursome.

They are funny little fruit, with lots of pips inside:

After boiling them to a pulp (the smell was amazing - all botanical and floral), I strung the mixture up in muslin to drain - the key to any good jelly is to use multiple layers of muslin and not to squeeze any juice through - just let it drip and drip and drip. I left it about seven or eight hours.

You may note in the above photo that:

1. It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday, and
2. as well as the jelly, I was making honey almond cookies and a pumpkin and silverbeet quiche (with pumpkin and silverbeet from our garden of course).

After boiling up the juice with tonnes of sugar, I was left with a marvelously firm, clear bright yellow jelly, which I hope will be good with cheese.

Another productive day in the Lower Sefton Road kitchen.