Cumquat jelly, not marmalade

We have a small cumquat tree in our garden but even though it is small it has produced an incredible amount of cumquats. I have already made cumquat marmalade so this time I thought I would have a go at making cumquat jelly.

The recipe was one that I found on the Internet at SBS Food.

Ingredients

1 kg cumquats
sugar, as required

Preparation

Cut the cumquats in half and place them in a saucepan. Add enough cold water to cover and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook the fruit for 2 hours. Regularly skim off the froth as it comes to the surface.

Allow the liquid and fruit to cool slightly, then ladle it into a cloth-lined colander or sieve. A large clean tea towel is fine, or muslin is good if you have it. Allow the liquid to drip through into a large bowl.

When the dripping begins to slow, gather the edges of the cloth together and tie with string. Hang the cloth in an elevated position and allow the remaining liquid to drip through for a few hours, or overnight if time permits.

Measure the cumquat liquid into a saucepan and add equal caster sugar to the liquid. For example, you would add 500g sugar if you had 500ml liquid.

Return the liquid and sugar to the heat and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and regularly skim off froth as it comes to the surface. Cook until it achieves a syrupy consistency, stirring frequently.

To see if the jam has reached setting point, place a teaspoon of the mixture onto a chilled plate. Tip the plate; if the jam runs, cook for a further 5 minutes, then try again. Pour into sterilised jars while still hot.

I bottled the jelly when I thought it had reached setting point but it turned out not to be quite set so I emptied the jars and boiled it for a bit more. It is now looking like proper jelly.