Organic Apricot Jelly ~ No sugars added

My kitchen was gathering a giant stack of empty mason jars so it was time to take action. I grabbed a few bottles of organic juice and decided to make some jelly with them.

You can make jelly (aka jam made from juice and not fruit) from any juice. I couponed some Santa Cruz Organic juices last year for $1.50 per bottle. Score!

Gabriella and I decided to make apricot jelly first. I had a few peaches so we chopped them up and added them to the apricot jelly, just for a little texture.

Gabriella is 4 and is actually at the point where she is more helpful than distracting, but just barely! I'm a big advocate of including your kids in everything you do, even if it makes it take longer to do. If you don't want them around, why have them in the first place? Also, I think it is important for kids to learn skills like canning,  cooking, chopping, etc. Healthy habits start young! Okay, end rant. Back to the jelly!

Here is the recipe so you can make your own.

Ingredients
64 ounces organic 100% apricot nectar
2 cups chopped organic peaches
1 cup water
1/4 cup organic lemon juice
1/2 cup of Low or No-Sugar-Needed Pectin

Peel and chop the peaches. As you can see, my helper was assisting me during this part with her butter knife. As a result, a lot of the pieces were quite large that got dumped into the jelly. If you are making this unassisted, chop the peaches into very small pieces. The idea was just to add a little texture to the jelly.

Pour the apricot juice, water and lemon juice into a large cooking pot. Put on medium-high heat. Add in chopped peaches and slowly sprinkle in the pectin, mixing as you add it so that it does not clump. Stir gently until it boils.

This was the first time I have ever let Gabriella stir a pot on the stove. She thought it was awesome. As soon as it started to boil I had her move back and I took over.

Stir the jelly constantly while it is at a rolling boil for 1 minute. Then remove from heat.
Fill your canning jars and leave 1/2 inch headspace. Put on lids and rings. Put jars in your Canner and cover with water until it is 1-2 inches above the highest jar. Process at a boil for 10 minutes. Then let them rest for 5 minutes before removing (carefully) from canner. Let sit for 24 hours in a cool, dark place before moving to storage.

My batch yielded 11 cups of jam