Spiced Wine Jelly

I know, I know ... who has leftover wine sitting around? Well, I did. I needed to open a bottle of wine for a dessert I was making, but it was about 10 in the morning ... not time to have wine, for me anyways!  So, the rest of the bottle just sat there all day and by the time dinner rolled around, I completely forgot that I had opened it. I'm not a huge fan of leftover wine. Even when stored properly, I just can't seem to enjoy it. It always seems to have a sour taste to it.

I didn't want to make another dessert and use only half a cup and I didn't want to toss the bottle away. I figured I should make a sauce with it to go over mushrooms or something like that. Trouble was, that just didn't sound great to me at the time. I don't know about you, but if something doesn't sound appetizing at that time, I just don't feel like cooking it! I remembered this beer jelly I recently came across that caught my eye. If you can make jelly with beer ... you can make jelly with wine!

As I poured the wine into a pot and added some sugar, Paul was talking about how great the weather had been and the beauty of the trees turning. We got excited about fall being on the way. As I smelled the wine cooking, it made me think of glogg which is a Scandinavian mulled wine that is served warm. It's delicious on a fall day. Quickly, I went for the spice cabinet to see what I could add to the jelly to give it that glogg taste. It completely made the jelly what it is! Thank you Paul for steering me in the right direction ... as always!

I have had this at a few parties now, and it is an instant crowd favorite! I serve it with water crackers and parmesan or asiago cheese. This would make a great hostess present too. I think I'm going to be making a large batch of it to bring to people that we visit over the holiday season. It's never too early to get ready for Christmas.

Spiced Wine Jelly

Makes 1 1/2 cups

2 c red wine, I use cabernet sauvignon
1 1/2 c sugar
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
1 T pectin

Start by bringing your wine and sugar to boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to keep it to a slow rolling boil. Then, add the cinnamon stick, cloves and pectin. Keep it at a boil until it reduces by half and becomes thicker.

The jelly will still be quite thin when it is done but it will thicken up more as it cools down so don't worry that it is still soupy. Put it into a container and keep refrigerated.

If I am going to make a couple batches to save, I will ladle the jelly into 8 oz sterilized jelly jars immediately, leaving 1/4 in headspace. Make sure the rim and center lid are wiped down and screw the band on tight. The heat from the boiling jelly seals the jar and keep them in the refrigerator,

To ensure sealing, us a hot water bath and process the jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.