The Making of Tuna Jelly - Photos
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 5:36 am
I started by harvesting ~65 Tunas (Opuntia fruits) No, I'm not making jelly from fish! Opuntia fruit is called Tuna. I harvested the fruit off of a huge, old, Opuntia englemannii var. linguiformis (Cows Tongue) that lives on an old abandoned property near me. It is just a plot of land now, and has been for years, but the Opuntia lives on. No one else makes use of the fruits, so I did. I need to go back a get a photo of the plant. I rode my bike over to it and took my camera, but when I got there I realized that I hadn't charged the battery in some time and as soon as I tried to take a photo the battery died. Oh well. I got my tuna - that's what matters.
On night #1 I burned off all of the Glochids with a propane torch. It worked well, but took a whole evening of work. It may have gone quicker if I wasn't so thorough, but I really didn't feel like eating glochids!
Glochid free.
Just to be sure, on night #2 I rinsed and scrubbed the fruits. I handled every single one and only got two glochids in my hand. I'd say I did a great job of removing them with the torch!
I boiled the fruits for 20 minutes then mashed them up.
Took the mashed up tuna and squeezed the juice out through a few layers of cheesecloth, then a strainer. I got 3.5 cups of pure juice. My hands were turning a nice purple/pink. It was then 1am on night #2 and I didn't feel like finishing the process - once again.
Finally! On night #3 (tonight) I spent the evening cooking the juice with pectin, lemon juice, and 5 cups of sugar. During which I prepped the jars. After lots of work I have six jars full of tuna jelly!!!
All lined up. Thank you to Peterthecactusguy, as I basically followed your recipe:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=21191" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I did change some things a bit (such as adding the fresh lemon juice and preparing the jars a bit differently), but overall I followed the recipe. I left out the butter thinking that it was unnecessary and a strange addition, however, I read that it would prevent it from foaming over. During the last minute of boiling the jelly, things got a little sketchy. It foamed like crazy and nearly went over the large pot I was using. I wanted to boil it for the full minute but was nervous that I would have a total mess. THANKFULLY, right as the timer hit 0:00 and the foam was at the top I promptly removed it from the heat and disaster was diverted. Maybe the butter would have been a good addition after all. I don't know.
I have never made any sort of jam or jelly before, so it was all new to me. I sure hope it tastes good! After three nights of work it better! It hasn't hardened into a jam like texture yet. I will try it in the morning. I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow.
On night #1 I burned off all of the Glochids with a propane torch. It worked well, but took a whole evening of work. It may have gone quicker if I wasn't so thorough, but I really didn't feel like eating glochids!
Glochid free.
Just to be sure, on night #2 I rinsed and scrubbed the fruits. I handled every single one and only got two glochids in my hand. I'd say I did a great job of removing them with the torch!
I boiled the fruits for 20 minutes then mashed them up.
Took the mashed up tuna and squeezed the juice out through a few layers of cheesecloth, then a strainer. I got 3.5 cups of pure juice. My hands were turning a nice purple/pink. It was then 1am on night #2 and I didn't feel like finishing the process - once again.
Finally! On night #3 (tonight) I spent the evening cooking the juice with pectin, lemon juice, and 5 cups of sugar. During which I prepped the jars. After lots of work I have six jars full of tuna jelly!!!
All lined up. Thank you to Peterthecactusguy, as I basically followed your recipe:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=21191" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I did change some things a bit (such as adding the fresh lemon juice and preparing the jars a bit differently), but overall I followed the recipe. I left out the butter thinking that it was unnecessary and a strange addition, however, I read that it would prevent it from foaming over. During the last minute of boiling the jelly, things got a little sketchy. It foamed like crazy and nearly went over the large pot I was using. I wanted to boil it for the full minute but was nervous that I would have a total mess. THANKFULLY, right as the timer hit 0:00 and the foam was at the top I promptly removed it from the heat and disaster was diverted. Maybe the butter would have been a good addition after all. I don't know.
I have never made any sort of jam or jelly before, so it was all new to me. I sure hope it tastes good! After three nights of work it better! It hasn't hardened into a jam like texture yet. I will try it in the morning. I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow.