Ingredients

How to make it

  • In a large saucepan, bring water and basil to a boil. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 10 minutes.
  • Strain and discard basil. Return 3-2/3 cups liquid to the pan. Stir in pectin and food coloring if desired. Return to a rolling boil over high heat.
  • Stir in the sugar. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; skim off foam.
  • Carefully ladle hot mixture into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims and adjust lids.
  • Process for 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Yield: 6 half-pints. Allow jelly to set up 5 days before using.
  • Note: The processing time listed is for altitudes of 1,000 feet or less. Add 1 minute to the processing time for each 1,000 feet of additional altitude.
  • Using Basil Jelly:
  • An old friend, Labs, suggested: Layer slice of mozzarella on a cracker, top with a dab of basil jelly and tomato jam – Caprese Salad takeoff.
  • Topping a cream cheese cracker
  • Combine with barbecue sauce; simmer and add mini meatballs or cocktail wieners.
  • My favorite: slather a toasted bagel and top with the jelly.
  • Source: discussed on a cooking forum years ago.

Reviews & Comments 5

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  • pointsevenout 10 years ago
    I'm glad it's working for you. I have no control over what GR does. Just saw a potential problem and wanted to talk about it.
    I looked at a dozen or so basil jelly recipes in cyberspace and it's split 50/50 on recipes that use and do not use an acid.
    Just found something new about botulism. Botulism spores make the botulism bacteria and the botulism bacteria make the botulism toxin (which is the nasty stuff). So the spores or bacteria won't hurt you, its the toxin that is produced that is damaging. Interesting.
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  • champagnetime 10 years ago
    All I can say is I have been making this for 3 or 4 years and never had a problem. I'm neither a chemist nor ar scientist, just a cook - if group recipes would prefer I delete this recipe, please just let me kow.
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  • pointsevenout 10 years ago
    Spoilage is different than botulism.

    Taken from: http://foodpreservation.about.com/od/Canning/a/Removing-The-Risk-Of-Botulism-From-Canning-What-You-Need-To-Know.htm

    As far as canning methods go, you need to remember that non-acidic foods must be processed in a pressure canner, not a boiling water bath. That will make sense once you know the "why" behind the "what."

    Although a brisk boil destroys botulism bacteria and toxins, it is not hot enough to destroy the spores. Now if you're going to eat the just-boiled food right away, that's okay. But if those spores are going to sit in a jar of incorrectly canned food on a shelf at room temperature, that could be a deadly problem.

    What do I mean by "incorrectly canned"? I mean that something that should have been pressure canned was processed in a boiling water bath instead. The reason that is so important is that a pressure canner heats the food to hotter than the temperature of boiling water. It gets the food all the way up to 240F/116C, which is hot enough to kill botulism spores.

    Here's why canning non-acidic foods in a boiling water bath is dangerous: The processing temperature in a boiling water bath cannot get hotter than 212F/100C, the temperature of boiling water at sea level. So the bacteria are destroyed, but not the spores that can grow into more bacteria.

    Clostridium botulinum spores grow in an environment that has no air, is a temperature between 70F/21C and 110F/43C, and includes more than 35 percent moisture. Sound familiar? That's right - it's exactly the environment inside a canning jar of food stored in a kitchen cabinet at room temperature.

    But the good news for home canners is that botulism is wiped out by food that has an acidic pH. That translates into the happy fact that you can safely process pickled vegetables, sugar preserves, and fruits in a boiling water bath (which you can do with a regular stock pot).

    Temperatures below freezing as well as moisture levels below 35 percent also render botulism inactive, which is why it isn't a concern with frozen and dehydrated foods.

    To sum up:

    Vegetables that are not pickled, soup stocks including vegetable stocks, and all animal products must be canned in a pressure canner.
    Acidic pickled veggies, jams, jellies, chutneys and fruits can be processed in a boiling water bath. Tomatoes may also be processed in a boiling water bath if you add a little acid in the form of vinegar, lemon juice, or citric acid.
    Frozen and dehydrated foods are safe from active botulism bacteria and spores.
    ------------------------------------------
    I'm going to suggest that you modify this recipe to include some type of acid for processing in a water bath canner OR use a pressure canner.
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  • champagnetime 10 years ago
    This will anxwer you much better than I could -
    This information is from the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension:

    The canning process is therefore a more foolproof method of making jams and jellies that
    will not spoil. In addition, although no cases of burning have been reported in the news media,
    experience has shown that some people will experience leaking of the hot product from the jar
    when it is turned over if the lid wasn't put on just right. If hot enough, someone could get
    burned. Even if it doesn’t cause burns, leaking means product is lost.

    Should I worry about mold?
    But is there a safety hazard in some molding of a jam or jelly? The best answer is that
    there is a potential risk. However, we want to make a recommendation that minimizes all
    potential problems and hazards. Some molds growing on fruit products made at home have
    been shown to produce "mycotoxins", or mold poisons.

    The danger to humans from consuming
    mycotoxins, as well as the actual expected incidence of mycotoxins from moldy jars of jams, are
    issues with no easy answers. But, animal studies indicate there is the potential for poisonous
    effects of some mycotoxins in humans. Patulin is one mycotoxin detected in a few tested jars of
    homemade apple jam and juice. Patulin has been shown to be carcinogenic in animals, but its
    role in causing human disease is not all that clear. It is also difficult to assess the actual health
    risk from consuming moldy jam or jelly because not all molds produce mycotoxins, and molds
    which do produce them vary in consistency of production when conditions change some.

    Nevertheless, the USDA advice for handling moldy jars of jam or jelly is to discard the contents
    of the whole jar. (See “Molds on Food: Are They Dangerous,” USDA-FSIS, retrieved June 6,
    2011 from http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Molds_On_Food/index.asp and
    http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Molds_on_Food.pdf.)

    Summary
    Because we are interested in recommending jam and jelly making procedures that offer
    the highest quality, the least health and safety risks, and the lowest chance of losing product, all
    Extension recommendations for jams and jellies include a boiling water canning process for
    room temperature storage of sealed jars.

    Standard canning jars used with self-sealing flat metal
    lids and ring bands, pre-sterilization of clean canning jars, hot filling of product into the jars, and
    processing for 5 minutes in a boiling water canner are recommended for highest quality and to
    prevent mold growth.
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  • pointsevenout 10 years ago
    How do you acidify the jelly so botulism doesn't grow in the anaerobic environment?
    Was this review helpful? Yes Flag

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