Cooling jelly without a refrigerator

Question

I have a pint of fruit juice, and some Gelatin. I want to make a fruit jelly for after dinner, which will be in 8 hours.

Living in the city with a vegetable shop around the corner, I do not have a refrigerator. It is however cold and rainy, and from experience, 6-7 hours on the windowsill will cause it to gel almost perfectly.

Are there any additional, simple tricks I can use to lower the temperature in the bowl by a few degrees more? I will be using a relatively flat bowl.

Answer

I'd place a tray in my sink a slowly run water through it, then sit the jelly on top of the tray, such that the bottom half of the jelly mould is under water. The constant, gentle, flow of cold water will cool the jelly quickly.

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What's the difference between jam, jelly, and preserves?

Question

I assume the difference in name is due to their cooking processes, but am unsure what exactly makes them different.

Answer

according to the Ball canning book (paraphrasing)...

JAM is made by cooking crushed or chopped fruits with sugar, and is made of one fruit or a combination of fruits, is spreadable, and is firm but will not hold the shape of the jar.

JELLY is made from juice strained from fruit, usually prepared in a way to keep it crystal clear, and is gelatinized enough to hold is shape when removed from the jar, yet is still spreadable.

PRESERVES are fruit preserved with sugar so it retains its shape, is transparent, shiny, tender and plump. the syrup generally has the consistency of honey, and a true preserve will not hold its shape when spooned from the jar.

to add to the confusion, i'll also add their descriptions of...

CONSERVES, which are jam-like and made of a combination of one or more fruits, nuts and raisins, cooked until it rounds up on the spoon.

MARMALADES are a soft jelly containing pieces of fruit and peel evenly suspended in a transparent jelly. similar in structure to jam.

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How to make Jalapeno Jelly?

Question

A friend of mine got into a discussion about how awesome it would be to have really spicy Jelly for a number of things, or atleast just to try the taste.

It didn't seem like there was anything that would specifically make this impossible so I ask:

Is it possible to make Jalapeno jelly, and if so, what would I need to do to make it?

Answer

There's quite a few recipes online.

This one seems pretty simple.

It looks like in general, you:

1. Liquify your peppers
2. Cook the result with vinegar
3. Strain it
4. Cook the result with salt and sugar
5. Add some pectin
6. Add some whole jalepenos (probably optional)
7. Transfer to jars

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