Lilly Pilly Jelly Recipe

Lilly Pilly fruit

Lilly pilly are native Australian evergreen bushes that produce small white flowers followed by pink-mauve fruit. Known to some as the Australian cherry, most people only known them as an attractive shrub. Lilly pilly fruit can harbour bugs, which is why I prefer to make a ‘jelly’ rather than a ‘jam’- the difference between jelly and jam is purely the process. Jelly requires straining to remove the pulp, jam simply uses the whole fruit (except the seeds). 

Lilly Pilly Jelly is made in 2 steps- ‘juice’ and ‘jelly’. For the best results, do them a day apart.

pitted Lilly Pilly fruit

Ingredients/Materials for the ‘juice’

1-2kg of lilly pilly fruit, stone removed.

1 large lemon (or 2 small lemons)

Water

Large saucepan or soup pan

Muslin sleeve or jelly bag (or just a doubled over layer of loose weave muslin)

Colander

Large jug (not a plastic one)

Ingredients/Materials for the ‘jelly’

Fruit ‘juice’

Sugar

Pectin (Pectin is in most fruit and is a natural gelling/thickening agent. When we made our jelly, there was sufficient pectin in the fruit for the jelly to set without needing to add extra. Some fruit have very low levels and will require commercially bought dried pectin- found near the sugar in most supermarkets.)    

Jam jars

Sugar thermometer

Process - Juice

1. Cut the lilly pilly in half to remove the stone then place into a large saucepan or soup pot 
2.   Add sufficient water so that the fruit is just covered by it.
3.  Slice up the lemon, squeezing the juice into the pot and cutting the rind into chunks before adding. If there are any seeds- these are full of pectin so add them in too!
4. Gently simmer the fruit until the liquid has gone the colour of the fruit and the fruit has lost most of its colour (about 15 minutes). Don’t let it boil. 
5.  Sterilise the muslin by boiling it in water for around 5 minutes.
6. Place the colander over the jug, then stretch the muslin out over the colander. Make sure it is stable and able to hold the quantity of liquid and fruit in your pot.
7. Take the fruit off the heat then gently pour it through the colander. The liquid will pool in the jug leaving the fruit pulp, lemon skin and seeds behind.
8. For the best results, leave it in a safe stable position and let it drip overnight. Don’t squeeze the muslin to get out extra juice- this will cloud your final product and may introduce extra bacteria into the mix.

 You can store the juice in the fridge overnight if it has already dripped out. Compost the fruit pulp once it has finished draining.

draining the juice from the cooked fruit

Process – Jelly

1. Place 2-3 small ceramic plates into the freezer- you’ll need these later for the jelly.
2.  Measure out the amount of juice you have made into the large pan. Don’t put more than 1.5L into the pot of it will bubble over too far. If you have more than that, reserve it and make a second batch.
3.  For every full cup of juice, add ¾ of a cup of sugar to the pot. (You can modify this amount but the jelly is less likely to set with less sugar.)
4. Gently warm the mixture until there are no more sugar granules left on the bottom of the pan.
5. While the mixture is warming, wash your jam jars and lids in boiling hot water and place into the oven on a tray. Turn the oven to 110`C and leave them to sterilise.
6. Bring the mixture slowly  up to a rolling boil. Be careful that the liquid doesn’t bubble over the pot.  It should take at least 10 minutes to get it to a rolling boil as this lets a little more water evaporate out. You will need to keep it at a rolling boil for 3 minutes depending on the sugar and pectin content.

   

   boiling juice

7.  When large bubble start forming towards the top of the pot, check the temperature of the mixture with a sugar thermometer. Pectin activates at between 103`C and 105`C and it needs to be in this temperature range for at least 3 minutes to get the pectin & sugar to gel. 
8.  Take out one of your freezer plates. Dribble a small amount of liquid onto the cold plate, wait 30 seconds then run your finger through it. If you can see small wrinkles forming when you do so, it is ready to bottle. If there are no wrinkles, keep boiling for a few minutes more then repeat.
   A.       If there are no wrinkles forming after around 8min at a rolling boil, turn the heat down until you just have a liquid. While the mixture is still hot but not bubbling, add pectin (according to the packet instructions) then bring back up to the boil. 
9.  When you have wrinkles on your plate, remove the jam from the heat.
10.  Take the jam jars out of the oven and pour the jam into them. Be careful as both the jars and the jelly is going to be extremely hot! You may want to use a glass or ceramic pourer to get the hot jelly from the pan to the jars.
11. Once the bottles are filled almost to the top, put the lids on and let them cool without shaking.

Lilly Pilly Jelly

 Jars sterilised in this way can last on the shelf for a few months. Once opened either finish the jelly off within 2 weeks in the cupboard, or refrigerate it to keep it longer.

It is possible to make a sugar-free (or almost sugar-free) jelly by increasing the pectin levels. The pectin needs a little bit of sugar to start the binding process but it can be done to a ratio of 1 cup juice to ¼ cup sugar or even 2 cups juice to ¼ cup sugar. With so little sugar for the pectin to work with, it won’t bind very well resulting in a runny end result. Too much pectin can also make ‘gummy’ jelly. Having said this, less sugar gives a gives a stronger lillypilly flavour. Deliciously tart with scones or sweet pastry, it won’t keep for long and MUST be refrigerated!