Cathleen R Smith

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You’ll Never Guess What I Did

I canned cucumber ginger jelly!

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

No, really I did. I had a bunch of cucumbers from my garden that I had absolutely no idea what to do with. My family doesn’t really love cucumbers and I had grown 2 different varieties this past season as an experiment - Ashley Cucumbers and Lemon Cucumbers - both directly sown from seeds ordered from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.

For this experiment, I used Ashley Cucumbers. The Ashley Cucumber is a slicing cucumber (not a pickling one) and is recommended for hot, humid climates like Atlanta and other places in the Southeast.

Now I’m sure you’re thinking that there’s a ton of dishes that can be made with cucumbers and a lot of canning recipes, as well. But remember, this type of cucumber is not one normally used for pickling - which means that canning pickles or pickle relish was out. Plus, I wanted to experiment (and we still have jars of pickle relish from last summer).

After searching my recipe books and the internet for cucumber canning ideas, I stumbled on a few for cucumber mint jelly. Which reminded me of lamb - not something that we have on a regular basis. Then I found a recipe for cucumber ginger jelly. Hmmmmm - maybe?

So I gathered all the ingredients and got out my electric canner. During the COVID lock down last year, this canner was a present to myself. It has made canning so simple! And I don’t have to worry if I have the pressure right (or if I might blow up the house - LOL). There’s a link below to purchase on Amazon if you’re interested.

So here’s the recipe I found (courtesy of A Southern Grace Blog). Note: the original recipe says you get about 2 cups of juice, but I got 4 cups so the amounts of powdered pectin, candied ginger and sugar have been doubled.

  • 6 to 8 cucumbers, peeled and chopped into medium sized chunks

  • 1/2 cup lemon juice

  • 1/2 cup white vinegar

  • 4 TBS powdered pectin

  • 8 cups granulated sugar

  • 1/2 cup chopped candied ginger

In a blender or food processor, puree the cucumber, lemon juice and vinegar until smooth. Strain the cucumber juice through a fine mesh sieve to remove any pulp. In a large saucepan over medium high heat, dissolve the pectin in 4 cups of cucumber juice, stirring constantly. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil (where the boiling doesn’t stop when you quit stirring), then add the sugar and candied ginger. Bring back up to a rapid boil and cook 1 minute more, stirring constantly. Pour into sterilized jelly glasses and seal. Process according to the canning directions for jelly.

See this Amazon product in the original post

Here are a few more links to the ingredients I used to make the jelly. I ordered these from Amazon, as well. During COVID, I got used to having my groceries delivered and haven’t really stopped the practice.

See this content in the original post

I’m not getting paid to promote these products. They are just the ones that I found on Amazon that would suit my purposes the best. But if you click through and take action, I’ll be compensated as an Amazon Affiliate.


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