Welcome to the holiday gift(s) of Jelly of the Month Club!

Each December I try to do a themed event.  Thanks to Food ‘n Flix for the inspiration for 2019.   (You can read a further explanation here.)

This installment, Cardamom-Orange Sparkling Riesling Jelly, is another wine/booze inspired jelly.  Cardamom is one of those spices I associated with the holidays.   I love this jelly.   I gifted a jar to a co-worker who served it at her son’s birthday party.  She simply topped a block of cream cheese with it and served it with crackers.  She immediately texted me a photo of the spread with a huge “thank you.”   She said her guests loved it and were asking for more.

Cardamom-Orange Sparkling Riesling Jelly

Based on BH&G

Ingredients

• 1 orange (juice and peel divided)
• 3 1/2 c. sparkling Riesling
• 12 cardamom pods
• 1 (1.75 oz.) pkg. powdered pectin
• 4 1/2 c. sugar

Instructions

1. Sterilize jars and prepare water bath.
2. Wash orange well.   Using a vegetable peeler, peel off six orange peel strips.  Set aside.
3. Cut orange in half and juice.  You should have about 1/2 cup of juice.  Strain the juice to remove pulp and seeds.  Add bottled lemon juice to reach 1/2 cup if needed.
4. In a 6- to 8-quart heavy pot combine wine, orange juice, and pectin. Whisk until pectin is dissolved.
5. Lightly crush cardamom seeds and place seeds and pods in a fine-mesh tea ball.  (Or, you may put the spices in a double thickness of cheesecloth and tie it up with kitchen twine.)  Add spice ball (or bundle) to the wine mixture.  Add the six orange peels as well.
6. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add sugar.  Return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly and boil hard for 1 minute, continuing to stir. Remove from heat. Remove the spice ball and the orange peels.  Quickly skim off any foam with a metal spoon.
7. Ladle hot jelly into sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving a 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids and screw bands.
8. Process filled jars in a boiling-water canner 5 minutes (start timing when water returns to boiling). Remove jars from canner.  Cool.

Yield: 6 half pint jars

The featured jelly is the closest with the spoon in it.

My cheap Riesling turned out to be of the sparkling variety.  It worked out well!

Stay tuned for more Jelly of the Month Club.