This time last year, I was driving down a back road near our house and noticed these stringy looking trees with beautiful berry clusters on them. Being the paranoid person I am, I assumed they were poisonous, but after a quick google search I discovered they were beauty berries. I also discovered that when cooked down, they made a delicious jelly, and their leaves could be used as a natural mosquito repellent. Until that point, I had shied away from ever picking any berry looking fruit from a wild bush for fear I would die, but there was no mistaking those berries. I had also never canned anything until that point, so this was a season of firsts for me.

It didn’t take much convincing to get my husband and kids out in the woods on a Friday evening searching for these berries. I refused to pick from any of the trees near the road because I wasn’t about to eat any road pollution, but there were plenty more of them tucked back in the woods. After bringing home a giant 5 gallon bucket of berries, I set to work on making the jelly from a recipe I found online. It was a total flop. The jelly didn’t “gel” at all and all we ended up with were jars of berry syrup. It still tasted good, but we ended up only using about half of what we made. The kids got tired of putting it on their pancakes after a while.

Fast forward to this year. Last month I was driving down that same road and spotted that same tree and told myself that I was going to get it right this year. When I told my husband that the berry tree was loaded, he said without hesitation “sounds like we’re going to have another Forage Friday.” So, last Friday we went back out and filled up another bucket of berries.

My sweet, sensitive daughter wasn’t about to get malled by mosquitos this year (last year I thought we all were going to end up with Malaria we got bit so bad), so she stayed at the house while Morgan, Kellen and I picked to our hearts content. We came prepared with plenty of bug spray this time, so no mosquito born illnesses for us. If you’re from Florida, you know that the mosquitos here are of prehistoric size and can bite through kevlar. It’s insane.

After doing some research, I decided I would combine two recipes to make the jelly this go- around. After two batches, I can officially say it is both “jelly”, it’s delicious, and none of us have died after eating it, so I am confident enough to share.

First thing you’ll need to do is wash about 6 cups of your foraged beauty berries. Pick as many of the stems off as possible. You’ll never get them all, but try. Then you’ll pour the 6 washed cups of berries into a large stock pot and cover it with about 7 cups of water.

Bring this to a boil while mashing the berries with a potato masher. Once you have them as mashed as you can get them, let it boil for about 20 minutes. The berries will lose their color and turn brown and foamy, and that’s normal. The color will come back.

While the berries are boiling, get your canner going so you can sterilize your jars while you’re doing the rest of the steps. This recipe filled about 9 4oz jelly jars.

The next thing you’re going to do is cut 3 pieces of cheesecloth about 12×12 size. Get them damp, then set them in a mesh strainer over a bowl.

After your berries have boiled for 20 minutes, you’re going to ladle them into the cheesecloth and start straining out the juice. This is a slow process, and you may need to scoop out the skins and stems as you go to allow the juice to move through.

After you finish with that, you’ll pour 2 1/2 cups of your berry juice concentrate into a soup pot. Then you’ll add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the concentrate. Then you’ll measure out 4 1/2 cups of sugar to a bowl (this will need to be added to the pot all at once). After that, you’ll add one package of pectin to the concentrate and whisk it until it’s dissolved. Bring the pot of juice to a boil while stirring constantly.

Once it reaches a full rolling boil, dump the entire bowl of sugar in at once. Do not stop stirring. Continue to whisk everything at a full boil for 1 minute. It will try to boil over, so watch for it.

Then remove the pot from heat and quickly strain off the foam on top with a slotted spoon. Take your heated jars out of the canner and ladle the juice in leaving 1/4 inch headspace in each jar. Wipe the rims with a damp cloth and add the lids to the jars, only screwing the rings on finger tight. Put all the jars back in the canner and process for 12 minutes. After the 12 minutes, turn the canner off and remove the lid and let the jars cool in there for about 10 minutes. Then you take them out and set them on the counter and bask in their beauty.

How pretty is that color?! They’ll need to sit still for a day, but after that you’re good to go!

Voila! There is the product of a successful Forage Friday. It just tastes better knowing that I made it from start to finish. Well, I didn’t plant the trees, but you know what I mean. If you try the recipe yourself, let me know how it turns out! Get foraging people…it’s beauty berry season!

INGREDIENTS

• 6 cups beauty berries
• 7 cups water
• 1 package of pectin
• 4 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS

• Wash beauty berries in warm water.
• Get all of your canning gear together and ready.
• Put 6 cups of beauty berries in a large pot and cover with 7 cups of water.
• Bring to boil while mashing berries with potato masher.
• Boil for 20 minutes.
• Add canning jars to canner and bring to boil.
• Once berries have boiled, strain through mesh colander lined with 3 layers of cheesecloth.
• Place 2 1/2 cups of berry liquid back into pot and add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.
• Add one packet of pectin and whisk until dissolved.
• Bring to boil while stirring constantly.
• Once it reaches full boil, add all sugar at once.
• Continue to boil rapidly for 1 minute.
• Remove from heat and skim foam off the top with slotted spoon.
• Remove jars from canner and fill with juice leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
• Wipe rims with damp cloth and place lids on top, screwing on rings until finger tight.
• Place jars back in canner and process for 12 minutes.
• After 12 minutes, turn off canner and remove lid. Let jars begin to cool inside canner for 10 minutes.
• Then remove jars and place on counter for 24 hours.