Pink Grapefruit Jelly Food

PINK GRAPEFRUIT GELATIN

Steps:

• Pour 1 cup grapefruit juice into a bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over and let stand to soften, about 5 minutes.
• Bring sugar and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Pour hot syrup over gelatin mixture; mix well to dissolve completely. Stir in remaining 1 3/4 cups juice.
• Pour into a 9-by-13-inch Pyrex pan; cover, and refrigerate until set, 4 hours.
• When ready to serve, cut gelatin into 1-inch cubes, and serve in tall glasses.

PINK GRAPEFRUIT HABANERO JAM

Steps:

• With a sharp serrated knife, slice off the rind from the grapefruits and carefully remove the sections of fruit. Do this over a bowl to catch the juices. After you've removed the flesh, squeeze the pulp to get all of the juice. Discard any seeds. You should have about 1 quart of fruit and juice when you are done. Mine weighed just under 2 lbs.
• Weigh out an equal amount of sugar. I used slightly less than an exact equal amount of sugar: about 1 1/2 pounds.
• Finely mince the habanero peppers, seeds and all. I did this in my mini food processor. Make sure it's finely chopped, and then add it to the fruit. Be careful, the fumes will be strong, and if you handle any part of the cut pepper you need to wash your hands well.
• In a heavy bottomed non-reactive pot put the juice and fruit, peppers, sugar, vinegar and pectin. Stir to combine and heat to a boil.
• Continue boiling the jam, uncovered, for about an hour. You don't have to slave over it, just give it a stir now and then, scraping down the sides of the pot. There is more liquid to this jam than in most fruit jams, so it will take proportionately longer to cook down.
• When the jam has reduced and thickened, the color will darken a bit and it will look translucent. If your jam has been boiling the whole time, it should be done in an hour. You can test it by spooning a small aount on a very cold plate. If the jam thickens and gels, it's done.
• Ladle the hot jam into clean jars. Quickly put the tops on and turn the jars upside down. Let them cool this way. This is a small batch refrigerator jam, meaning you are going to store it in the fridge and eat it relatively soon, so it doesn't require further processing.
• Refrigerate the cooled jam. The jam will thicken overnight. The unopened jam should keep for at least a couple of months in the refrigerator. Probably much longer.

RUBY RED GRAPEFRUIT JELLY

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, whisk pectin into juice. Bring to a full boil over high heat.
• Add sugar and return to a rolling boil. Boil hard one minute.
• Remove from heat, and pour into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust caps, and process in boiling water bath 5 minutes.

PALOMAS

Steps:

• Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup salt on a small plate. Run a wedge of grapefruit around the rim of 4 glasses to moisten the rims. Lightly dip the rims in the sugar mixture and set aside to dry.
• Combine the grapefruit juice, tequila, lime juice, sugar syrup, and a pinch of salt together in a pitcher. Fill a cocktail shaker 1/2 full with ice and pour in the drink mixture. Shake the cocktail shaker for 30 seconds to chill and dilute the drink. Pour into the 4 prepared glasses, add a few ice cubes, and a wedge of grapefruit and serve ice cold.
• To make sugar syrup, combine 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook until the mixture is clear. Cool and refrigerate indefinitely.

GRAPEFRUIT JELLY CANDY

Steps:

• You'll need a 13 x 9-in. baking pan lined with nonstick foil; let foil extend over ends of pan.
• Remove enough zest from grapefruit to measure 1/4 cup. Juice the grapefruit (you'll need only 1 cup juice).
• Put zest, 1 cup of the sugar and 1/4 cup of the juice in a blender; purée. Pour into a 6-qt saucepan. Stir in remaining 2 1/2 cups sugar and 3/4 cup juice. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to a boil.
• Let boil gently for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in butter; boil 3 minutes longer, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in pectin and food color until incorporated and color is light red. Quickly pour into prepared pan and spread with offset spatula.
• Let stand at room temperature until jelly is firm to the touch, about 2 hours.
• To cut and decorate: Put 1 cup sugar on wax paper or a plate. Lift foil by ends onto cutting board. Cut with 1 1/2" cookie cutter (or into 1 1/4-in. squares). Lift shapes from foil to sugar and turn to coat on all sides. Scraps can be cut into small shapes and sugared, or discarded.
• Storage Tip: Store in airtight containers with wax paper between layers at cool room temperature, or in refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

PINK GRAPEFRUIT, RASPBERRY & MINT JELLIES

Steps:

• Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water. Put on the kettle and when it boils pour 1 litre of the boiling water over the mint leaves. Leave to infuse for 5 mins then strain into a large jug. Squeeze the excess moisture from the soaked gelatine then stir it into the hot mint mixture until dissolved. Set aside to cool.
• Cut the peel and pith from the grapefruit with a sharp knife then cut between the segments to release them, reserving any juice. Cut the segments into about 3 pieces each then distribute the grapefruit, raspberries and peaches between 6 glasses. Stir any grapefruit juice into the mint jelly then pour it into the glasses and chill until set.