Purple fingers, Purple kitchen, Stickers in strange places!!!

But that is the sacrifice that all who make Prickly Pear Jelly must make...maybe we should get a purple heart!  Great idea!  This jelly is the most labor intensive jelly you will make, and can be quite dangerous, but tasty, amazing and beautiful!! I have trouble passing the thousands of purple fruit and not have my mouth water.  My good friend Jonathan and his beautiful wife allowed me to come to their home and pick their fruit.  So I have worked really hard and I made jelly, syrup and will be turning some of the syrup into prickly pear vinaigrette.  Ohhh, I love this stuff!!!!  Happy Jelling!!!
                                                   

Prickly Pear Jelly This recipe comes from the University of Arizona. 2 1/2 cups juice, 1 quart fruit Water to cover in kettle 1 package powdered pectin (not liquid) 3 tablespoons lemon or Mexican lime juice 3 1/2 cups granulated sugar Sterilized jelly glasses Use red, ripe, tuna (fruit). If fruit is very ripe, try to include some under-ripe ones to add pectin. A handy way to gather fruit is to use a long-handled fork or tongs and a heavy paper bag. It is not necessary to burn off the spines, as they will come off when fruit is pressed through cheesecloth or filter paper. Brush the pears with a vegetable brush. Wash and place in a kettle with just enough water to cover. Boil until quite tender and soft. This is necessary to extract all juice. Set juice aside so sediment will settle to bottom of container. For clear jelly do not use pectin containing sediment. For each 2 1/2 cups juice, add 1 package powdered pectin (more successful than liquid pectin in this recipe). Bring to a fast boil, stirring constantly. Add lemon or lime juice and sugar. Bring to a hard boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil for 3 minutes. Timing is important to get a product that will jell. Remove from heat; skim and pour into sterilized glasses. Process jars. Prickly Pear Syrup 3 ½ cups prickly pear juice 4 cups sugar ½ tsp cinnamon ½ tsp vanilla In a saucepan, combine the prickly pear juice, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 20 minutes. Taste to make sure that the flavors are balanced.  Purple hand!