Jam / Jelly query

[Newbie]

Hello

Last week i was given a carrier bag full of very small crisp sweet apples (not crab apples) by a friend. I wanted to use these for jam / jelly but being a lazy begger i couldn't be @rsed to peel them all. Anyway, i chopped them all & boiled them (skin, core & all) in a pan with water & eventually strained them to make 1.75 pints of juice. Now, i have just less than 4lbs of Damsons too and want to combine them to make some kind of jam / jelly. Do i have to make the Damsons into juice too or can i just add them whole with the apple juice. If i used 2lbs of Damsons with the 1.75 pints of Juice how much sugar would i need to add & at what stage?

Sorry for the long windedness!!!

[rustylady]

Rough guide to sugar is 1 pound of sugar to a pint of juice or pound of fruit. So if you don't want to juice the damsons I assume you would need 2 lb of sugar for the 2lb of damsons, plus one and three quarter pounds of sugar for the apple juice. This may end up a bit sweet, though.

[Newbie]

It does sounds rather a lot of sugar but it is what i had already guessed at. The apple juice is already rather sweet tasting though so if no-one else has a better idea i may just give it a go - perhaps using 3lbs rather than 3.75lbs.

Many thanks for your reply.

[Hilary B]

Cook the damsons before adding sugar!
I would go with just over 3lb sugar, perhaps plus juice of half a lemon.