Red Clover Jelly and Freezing Eggs

I was struck by the beauty of this bowl of clover.

So, I put it up before the jelly photo.

One day, I saw red clover growing right beside a road with very little traffic. I found a recipe for Red Clover Jelly. The next time exbf came, we went and picked clover. My white clover is only three to six inches high. This had stems that were about two feet long. But, it was clover.

The plan was for both of us to pick about two quarts. Exbf got much more than I, but I decided we had a gallon because I was hot and tired. The non-latex gloves I wore were suffocating my hands. When we got home, I asked him to remove all the bits of stem and all the green he could. He finished in record time, I thought. Later, I found my clover stuffed by my chair and all wilted because I forgot to give it to him. He kept asking if that was all, and I assured him it was. Oh well.

I poured a quart of boiling water over the clover, covered them with Glad Wrap and placed a salad plate over them to keep them under the water. The directions said to steep the clover overnight. I think I left them steeping for a week.  Don't do that.

one quart of red clover juice/infusium

 

 

Now is where I deviate from the plan. I did not like the blah color in the jar. So, I took about six mulberries and squeezed in a coffee filter. I got color!

 

squeezed these, one day's "harvest" of mulberries

Now, I have juice that has been filtered once and it seems like it needs filtering again after sitting for a week and having mulberries added. I want perfectly clear jelly for this project.

 

 

Blogger does not want a caption under this picture! It keeps moving the picture when I try to add a caption! Above is the process of straining the juice again in order to get really clear jelly. I put a coffee filter stuffed into a quart jar and used the cup in front to dip the juice from the Corelle pan on the right. Every time the juice clogged the filter, I changed filters--three times. The lemon juice is measured to the left.

 

 

 

As I cooked the jelly and it was almost done, I took the jars from the boiling water and placed on a towel. In the meantime, I put a towel into the pot I used for the water bath they needed.  Above, the three jars are resting on a towel and are boiling. I just hope the steam did not ruin the camera! By using this pot, I heated a quarter of the water as I would have used in my regular water bath canner.

 

The pint needs to be a standard jar and ring. The half-pint jar has the only fruit-patterned lid I can find from the dozen jars I opened. I have the rings, but cannot find the lids. The gingham lid on the 4 oz. is cute, but I usually just use this for storage since it is not Ball and I don't know how trustworthy it is.

 

These are not as pretty as the clover.

 

The clover juice was sort of golden with no hint of pink. This is slightly pinker, but it has not jelled yet. 

 

Ingredients I used:
two quarts of clover, about
4 Tbsp lemon juice
1 pkg Sure Jell in pink box
1 2/3 cup sugar.

This is the recipe I did not follow.

I finally got the chance to get exbf to test the jelly. He says it is a light flavor and delicious.




Eggs in the Freezer

two 4-oz. jars with two eggs each

 

The last egg post, I showed three jars I put in the freezer. The next day while I was beating eggs for breakfast, I prepared two eggs and put them in a jar in the freezer. That make 4 jars last week + 2 today=6 jars in the freezer. My goal is 36 jars, so that is 30 jars to go. If I can freeze only 16 eggs each month (freeze 4 eggs each week) for the next four months, that will make 4x16= 52 eggs or 26 jars.  I need to freeze more than that! We will see.

 

Unfortunately, I had to toss some eggs. I scrambled some for the hens, gave some away, and only have about 8 eggs on the counter instead of three dozen. As you can see, two dependable hens are plenty for me. Now, I need to keep up with using them, freezing them, or giving them away before the hens take a winter break..

I think the places online called for putting 1/8 tsp sugar or 1/8 salt in the eggs. I am not sure why this is called for. From now on, I will put the 1/8 tsp of salt in the two eggs I freeze in each jar. Maybe.

Your turn
Have you ever made red clover jelly? Tasted it? What's your favorite  jelly do you make? What jelly did you make last? 

Have you frozen any eggs yet?