For December’s Food ‘n Flix feature, we could choose from any holiday film we wanted. I chose a hilarious Chevy Chase holiday traditional film. We try to watch this at least once a year.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a classic. And, true to the definition of a “classic,” it is thirty years old. 
Gasp!
This is one of those oh-so-quotable films, quotes that celebrate the holiday season:
“Take a look around you, Ellen! We’re at the threshold of hell!!”
“Hallelujah! Holy sh*t! Where’s the Tylenol?”
And, the festive declaration of… “Sh*tter’s full.”
While it may not be chock-full of of food (or holiday cheer for that matter), there is the classic eggnog (in obnoxious holiday mugs) and the traditional green jello mold (with cat food kibble).
I want to celebrate Clark’s bonus, that yearlong anticipated THANK YOU for a job well done. Yes, I’m talking about the Jelly of the Month Club.
I made very little jelly and jam this past growing season. With no fresh fruit on hand, I found it surprisingly easy to use wine and spirits in jellies. I made six of these jellies on one Sunday.
From L to R: Spiced Beer Jelly, Cardamon-Orange Sparkling Riesling Jelly, Aleppo-White Zinfandel Jelly, Mead Jelly, Spiced Merlot Jelly, Limoncello Jelly
“It’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.” (Cousin Eddie)
Here is the roster of jellies and jams in my proposed “Jelly of the Month” celebration:
January
Mead JellyFebruary
Zombie MarmaladeMarch
Spiced Merlot JellyApril
Bloody Mary JamMay
Cardamon-Orange Sparkling Riesling JellyJune
Aleppo-White Zinfandel JellyAugust
Limoncello JellySeptember
Spiced Apple Beer JellyOctober
Tequila-Pepper JellyNovember
Whiskey Sour Cocktail JellyDecember
Mulled White Wine Jelly
You notice a theme here, right?
Here’s the January jelly:
Mead (honey-wine) Jelly
Drizzle on cheese cake or use on a cheese platter.
Ingredients
- 2 c. Pinot Grigio
- 1 (1.75 oz.) pkg powdered pectin
- 3 1/2 c. honey
- 1/4 t. butter
Instructions
- Sterilize jars.
- Prepare water bath.
- In a 4- or 5-quart kettle combine wine and pectin. Whisk together until pectin dissolves.
- Cook and stir over high heat until mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Add honey all at once. Return to boiling.
- Add butter; boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
- Ladle hot jelly into sterilized canning jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims. Adjust lids. Process jars in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes (start timing when water returns to boiling).
- Remove jars; cool on wire racks.
Yield: 6 half pints
Yes, using 3 1/2 cups honey is an expensive undertaking. I used some of our homemade Pinot Grigio so I hope it all evens out.
We were literally eating this out of the jar. But, I highly recommend it topping a cracker spread with goat cheese.
So, I had pre-planned the 2019 Christmas posts way back in 2018. I have so many retro holiday magazines (Martha Stewart, Gourmet, Southern Living) that I decided I would highlight a recipe from each vintage holiday edition.
It’s still in the works (maybe for 2020) but I decided to highlight weird and boozy jellies and jams for the upcoming holiday posts for this “Jelly of the Month” club.
Stay tuned for the next eleven jellies! (I am seriously making all of these! In fact, by the time this posts, I only need to knock out four more.)
Thanks to Heather for hosting this holiday movie fest at Food ‘n Flix.
Join us this month. Obviously one of my favorite holiday films is Christmas Vacation. You, however, can choose any holiday film of your liking. Please grab some eggnog and popcorn, watch your favorite, and whip up something delicious to post. For more information, please see the announcement post here.
How come I haven’t watched this film before? Definitely need to watch it this weekend! The wine jelly looks so GOOD, Deb.
The film is probably an acquired taste, Angie. 🙂 This jelly, however, should be agreeable to anyone! 🙂 Thanks!
That’s a fascinating undertaking — to document 12 different wine jellies. I’ve seen it for sale at a winery in France but not here. Does the alcohol go away in processing? Or is it still a bit alcoholic?
As you present these recipes I very much hope you’ll offer other suggestions for using the jellies. When I had the French winery jelly, which was many years ago, I think we also ate it with chicken or duck, as well as with cheese.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Mae, these are very simple and quick jellies to make. My limoncello jelly turned out a bit boozie in taste (but I used homemade limoncello–don’t know if that made a difference or not). With most of the wine recipes, I am sure the alcohol was cooked out. There’s a couple of recipes were the spirits are stirred in at the last minute, so not sure there. I would highly recommend any of these upcoming offereings as a glaze for grilled meats and as a condiment for cheese boards.
[…] k.fillText(f(55356,56826,55356,56819),0,0),!(j.toDataURL().length Jelly of the Month Club (What a bonus!) […]
I absolutely love this contribution, Debra! I was THISCLOSE to making a jelly inspired by the same scene. And oh my gosh does yours sound incredible.
Wow. Your Year was packed with fun. A new jam each month and then this classic flick
I love this idea. Hard to believe this movie is this old already.