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.
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.
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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