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    Premium Jam not as good as Kubu forums! :]

    Well, it won't compare to Kubuntu forums, but.....

    i know that it is not politically correct in today's hyper climate but I actually worked making jellies and Jams when I was in college.

    Because of that I know how a "company" actually makes jams and jelly from the bottom up, I ended up as the floor supervisor of the whole operation.

    The cut to the chase is that there are many, many factors that go into making something as "a spreadable thing" such as jelly and jam.

    To narrow this, just about any company can make "apple" jelly.

    It gets more iffy when one gets into things like Raspberry, Blackberry etc.

    The fundamental thing that determines the flavour is cost of the various juices.

    That it THE main reason for the absolute explosion of the various blends of JUICES which now fill whole aisles in the grocery store and that come and go so quickly. There are two reasons why "Orange juice" is so expensive compared to the other juices. A) demand is down because of people converting to 'smoothies" from Orange Juice for breakfast B) the volumes of juices can vary drastically depending on weather changes.

    The colst of "blended" juices can be kept lower because the blends seldom last long enough to build a following.

    So, ipso post facto, that also affects the "general jelly" such as "apple". Apple is a relatively bland taste that can be met by a blending of a huge number of varieties of apples and......the addition of a lot of sugar to smooth out the taste.

    The next thing is shelf life, if the jelly is going to the mass market it is relatively easy to move the product "around" the U.S. ( or any other continent) and between continents if the demand happens to increase or decrease regionally.

    The last thing is the "target market". Is it a "cross section" of people or a "particular taste pallet"? generally the "particular pallet" is regional.

    The hardest jellies to make are those which are for very niche tastes.

    Again, all of the above comes into play.

    One example of that is "mint" jelly.

    The plant where I worked did "some" mint jelly and it was only when the juice appeared on the market. Generally companies who make "mint" pre-buy the whole production of various suppliers so the appearance of something like "mint" juice on the market and that it is AFFORDABLE is random rather than common.

    So, because of my childhood wherein my parents and grandparents made jams and jellies (my grandfater a full blood American Indian, used to actually PICK individually ..... clover heads to make clover jelly! ) and my manufacuring experience I actually spend a lot of time, randomly when shopping, checking out the jelly presentations in stores.

    As an example, on my first drive to Key Largo I ran across a massive "roadside stand" building which has literally dozens and dozens of local / regional jellies.

    An example was a very regional "Hurricane Jelly" which was made from Pinapple and Apricot.

    I thought it was marvellous and purchased a couple of bottles and took one to the college and....the comments were: .Yeeecccchhhhh!!! .... only one person of probably fifteen liked it.

    So.... to the point of this LONG post.

    I am an ESPECIAL fan of "mint jelly".

    But, again, because of the above constraints I have ----- NEVER found a jelly which actually tasted like "mint" ( now YES....taste is all PERSONAL) as in what one can represent by chewing a fresh mint leaf.

    Every mint jelly that I have purchased has been "too harsh / too much mint" or "too much base - as in apple being the base with mint added".

    But, enter a couple of cases of [url=http://www.crosseandblackwell.com/products/jelly]"Crosse and Blackwell Mint flavoured apple jelly"[url].



    As a matter of economic fact, a company just CANNOT make a pure mint jelly and expect to be in business if it is the main offering or unless they have a very closed regional audience. An example of that is the foodie providers on places like the Hamptons where there are enough locals who literally have enough money to burn to maintain a consistent cash flow for the providers.

    I am going to go out on a limb and recommend that if anyone happens across this jelly that one get at least TWO jars.

    One for the "OMG THAT IS SO DA#$ GOOD!" and one to wait on the shelf for a while and to savour later, possibly on a cool summer evening or on Christmas Day or some other special day.

    Sorry for the long post.
    Last edited by woodsmoke; Oct 18, 2016, 01:08 PM.

    #2
    Interesting! I love peppermint York candies. Never tried mint jelly. I'm going to look for it.

    Blended juices? Not so much. Most are made mostly of water solutions of HFCS, the Fructose part being that which is 1.5 times sweeter than Glucose, and turns off the signal from the stomach telling the brain you're full, so you keep on drinking. Add a little Xanthan gum to thicken it slightly and make it feel less watery in the mouth (also used to thicken gravy), plus some coal tar dyes to give it the right color, then top off the brew with a drop or two of fruit extracts to give it the right flavor. The more expensive "fruit" drinks toss in some gratings of the rhine and peel to make it look as if it were ground from fresh whole fruit, and some some Citric acid to give it the right "bite". They may also add some Vitamin C so they can put those on label, because fruit juices are slightly acidic due to Citric acid, but that will boost the price some more.

    I visited my sister in Largo, FL, before she died 12 years ago, and noticed on a road near her house an orange stand. They were selling Valencia oranges and mixing up orange juice on the spot. The oranges came from trees behind the house. Best oranges and orange juice I've ever tasted. In my sister's yard were Grapefruit trees. It's an interesting feeling to walk out into the yard, pick a Grapefruit, and take it back into the house to eat it for breakfast. Tasty too!
    "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
    – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

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      #3
      aaaannnnndddd....fresh orange juice is not nearly so "acidy" ( which is natural, but enhanced I think for storage purposes).

      yep, love the citrus in Florida, whenever I drive to the Keys I always stop at road side stands if I can.

      woodsmoke

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        #4
        I remember well as a kid watching my mother make mint jelly (among others). As far as I can recall, she used four ingredients only:

        1. Fresh mint
        2. Water to boil it in
        3. After straining, sugar to sweeten it a bit
        4. Pectin to make it jell.

        And finally she poured melted paraffin wax into the hot jars of liquid jelly, which floated on top, so when it cooled, the jelly jelled and the paraffin hardened, and with a lid on the jar you had a product that could easily last a year in the cellar. It came out at Thanksgiving and Christmas and maybe New Year's Day and Easter as well.

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          #5
          dibl

          yep! that it the way we all did it!

          good times!
          woodsmoke

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            #6
            she poured melted paraffin wax into the hot jars of liquid jelly, which floated on top, so when it cooled, the jelly jelled
            I remember that, too.
            An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

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