cjsmith | It's my day for cooking adventures. Hey eichin!

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It's my day for cooking adventures. Hey eichin!

While the aforementioned chicken marinade was in the oven, I read

kitiara's post about canning. She mentioned Mountain Dew jelly.

Yes folks, it's made from Mountain Dew.

This I had to try. As soon as the chicken was safely out of the oven I ran to the grocery store for the things I didn't have: Mountain Dew, sugar in case I didn't have enough, pectin, and jelly jars.

No, I've never made any kind of jelly before, nor canned anything at all, in my life. Funny you should ask. I spent some time stuck on the idea that I needed three really big pots.

kitiara graciously told me I could do a lot of this in shifts.

Step 1: Sterilize the jars by boiling, then keep them hot until ready to use. I decided that my kitchen sink filled with almost-boiling water would make a fairly good heatmass. Finally all the jars were sitting in hot water, along with their lids, and the rims with the screw-threads were sitting on the countertop to dry. No, my countertop is not sterile. Quit asking distracting questions.

Step 2: Make the GOOOOOO. I had no idea Mountain Dew could dissolve more than its own volume of granulated sugar. I am now deeply disturbed by this knowledge.

Step 3: Into the jars! Yes, the jars that are sitting in water so hot I don't want to stick my hand in. I must have messed up somewhere along the line. I barely got five jars of jelly, while I think

kitiara got twelve. I tasted the drippings. Lemony!

Step 4: Boil the jars again. I think this propitiates the gods of lid-sealing. I bowed to the pot a few times just to be sure.

Step 5: Use telekinesis to get the jars out of the boiling water and onto a towel to cool. I cheated and used oven gloves with plastic grocery bags around them.

So now I have pretty yellow jelly - caffeinated jelly, no less! - and a whole bunch of extra Mountain Dew I get to drink.

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I am also very disturbed at the dissolving of the dew. I set aside my huge bowl of sugar and thought "no way is that stuff gonna dissolve." It did. I am afraid.

For step four, the heat is what seals the lids on. You'll hear them go "pop!" one at a time as they seal. To test them, just press on the lid. If it gives, they need to go in the fridge and be eaten. If it doesn't give, you're good for the apocalypse. :)

Oh good, THAT'S what those pops were! I was hoping they weren't UNsealing. But I can tell that all the lids are just a tiny bit concave.

Not that it matters much. I'm not good for five jars of jelly no matter how tasty it is. I know some friends who'll help eat 'em quickly. :-)

If you ever decide to do this again, Orchard Supply Hardware, Longs, Ace Hardware or anyplace similar has canning supplies. If you get nothing else, get yourself a pair of jar tongs and a wide-mouth funnel. Remember: Safety First :):).

I'm actually surprised I didn't see jar tongs at Safeway. They sell pectin, paraffin, and three sizes of jars; I'd'a thought they would also have the tongs. Oh well. Most of the steps were easy to do with my little baby tongs (since those can grasp a jar without its lid), and I was rather proud of the oven-gloves-in-plastic idea for the last bit! :-)

:):) I thought that was pretty clever, too.

Actually, I probably have a extra jar tongs floating around here if you ever find you need some.

Hey cool! I was thinking of running out to get some, just 'cause I might do this again (my brain is whispering "a good gingery ginger-ale" at me), but I think a specialized tool like that might be wasted on me. I spend a day in the kitchen every year or so.

Yep, I have extra. Want I should drop them in the mail to you? (If so, just email me off LJ and send me your snail mail address)

Thank you, thank you! 8-)

Ginger! Yum! If you do it, try using the kind of ginger beer that they sell for mixing drinks...it's wonderfully gingery. Knowing how much we love the stuff, we'd probably slice some fresh ginger into the jelly and strain it out before canning. Chris makes ginger in syrup by the jar-full to put into oriental cuisine or just to chew on when one of us has a tummy ache or sore throat. It's light syrup, and beats the heck out of that ginger that has been candied and rolled in granulated sugar. Ewwww!

I may just look for the recipe and make some of the Dew jelly for Erik. It's always been his favorite soft drink. ;-) Congratulations on your success!

Wonderfully gingery is just what I'd want! How would I find that kind of ginger beer? Does it go by a particular name?

I, too, adore ginger. Mmmmmm.

Dew Jelly Recipe, plagiarized from Kit who got it from someone else:
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups Mountain Dew (two 12 oz cans)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 package Sure Jell pectin

Directions:
Pour the Mountain Dew and lemon juice into a 6- to 8-quart pot. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 3 minutes. Let it cool slightly, then follow the Sure Jell directions. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. (You can also try inversion, but

kitiara's didn't seal when she did that.)

Reed's & Blenheim both make really tasty ginger ale/beer.

Mmm, Blenheim! That name rings a bell. I've had theirs - very good. Thanks for the reminder! 8-)

Reed's also makes a fabulous Chocolate Ginger Ice cream. It's available at the Whole Foods.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh

Blenheim ginger ale makes my nose run.

It comes in both mild and strong options.

(Note: I like strong.)

My nose doesn't react strongly to ginger, though even a wimpy hot and sour soup will have me reaching for a tissue. Hmm, I don't know which option I've had. At the scooter party, which version of Blenheim's was sitting around? I had that. It was yyyyyummy.

I probably have a extra jar tongs

I wish I could say I was on drugs when I wrote that, but, alas, I have no excuse.

That should read, "I probably have extra jar tongs..."

Oh I dunno, in the Midwest it's perfectly acceptable to say "a scissors" so maybe "a tongs" is a fine dialectical construction! Or maybe I'm making that up. I sure am making up the word "dialectical".

in the Midwest it's perfectly acceptable to say "a scissors"

Huh? I've lived in the Midwest the entire time I've been able to talk, and I've not run into this construction before.

And if I'd had, I would have laughed ;-)

The Midwest is big. People from New Orleans (I'm not making this up!) to Idaho have claimed to me that they live in "the Midwest".

I'm thinking of Ohio. My grandparents both said "a scissors".

Yes, that's perfectly acceptable: "a scissors." Of course, my grandmother--from Michigan, her husband from Ohio--also kept her clothing in a "draw," (believe me, however she spelled it, this is exactly how it was pronounced!) drank "pop," and sat on in the "divan."

Regionalisms fascinate me.

The idea of Mountain Dew jelly fascinates me, too, but more in the way that I might peer at some particularly brightly colored insect that appeared on my screen door. I look forward to hearing what you think of this, umm... concoction.

Half my cousins drink pop and the other half drink soda. (They're all in one family, in Lorain, Ohio.) My grandmother sat on a "davenport" but I think the cousins sit on, oh, shucks, it's either a couch or a sofa but I can't remember which. I now use the two interchangeably, so I'd fail to notice.

I'll be sure to post when I eat any of this stuff. I don't know how to tell whether it has set. Maybe I should buy some bread for toast.

Oh, yeah, my grandpa used to nap on the davenport, too! I use couch or sofa more often than either divan or davenport, though.

re: if the jelly is set--once it's completely cool and has set still for at least 24 hours, and you've tested the seal, try turning the jars sideways, or even upside down. You should be able to see the jelly "wiggle". My personal experience is that if you've used the full sugar pectin, and used the full sugar, that you really shouldn't have too much trouble with the set. It's when you start getting creative that it often doesn't set well. Then again, I don't make jelly, which is harder to get to set than jam, so I dunno.

I too, run the jars through the dishwasher as my first cleaning step. I boil the lids and rings, though. And then right before filling the jars, I've been known to "dunk" them into the boiling waterbath for a bit, just to make sure they didn't pick up anything strange while waiting. The good news is that the really nasty bugs (botulism, for instance) prefer things you don't can with a mere waterbath, like meats. It's likely that the worst thing you'll have happen to a jar of jam is that it will ferment (had that happen once with a bad seal).

My jelly "wiggles" when I waggle the jar. Dunno if it wiggles too much. I suppose I'll open one soon.

Yeah, stuff that grows on fruit (or on refined cane sugar) isn't nearly as bad as the stuff that grows on meat. Argument #298 for being vegetarian, except no one in their right mind would want to be NEAR me when I'm getting that much protein from lentils and beans. :-)

Hey hey hey! We know that it would be "AN extra tongs." We know "an" comes before a vowel!

(Actually where in the Midwest do they say that? )

Ohio. If you count Ohio as "the Midwest", of course. (As far as I know, "the Midwest" is anything people claim it to be, except the coasts.)

Yeah, I am in Illinois and we claim to be the Midwest as well. But both Ohio and Illinois are east of the Mississippi! :)

Once upon a time, all the states just west of the eastern seaboard states were considered "the west". Further west than that was unknown and filled with 'savages'.

*whisper*
(And I never boil the jars first, just run 'em through the dishwasher. I do boil the lids and screw bands briefly, then let them drain on a clean towel. No one's died - yet - or gotten sick from eating anything I've canned.)

Cool! Thanks! :) Boiling them is easy, but it sure would be faster if I had a pot big enough to hold 'em all at once. 'Cept I don't have a cabinet big enough to hold said pot, so there goes that idea!

My mom always put the jars in the oven to sterilize them and keep them hot.

Good idea, thanks!

When you got to the tongs, I imagined full lab gear, glowing jelly (this is clearly something you make with a blacklight turned on nearby :-), little radioactive trefoils on everything...

Hmm, 24oz dew into 5 what-sized jars? (Just trying to figure out how much the caffeine got concentrated by this effort...)

They almost glow without any blacklight. They're a... very interesting electric yellow color.

Five eight-ounce jars. The sugar bloops out the volume considerably.

I wonder if caffeine breaks down at a full boil. I suppose if it does, it's not fast, otherwise all coffee would be pretty wimpy.

If I knew where to ship one, you'd get one. (I could use the jar back some day, but it's no biggie.) Send me an address in e-mail?

From the Merck Index, by way of the caffeine FAQ:

Hexagonal prisms by sublimation, mp 238 C. Sublimes 178 C. Fast sublimation is obtained at 160-165 C under 1mm press. at 5 mm distance. d 1.23. Kb at 19 C: 0.7 x 10^(-14). Ka at 25 C: <1.0 x 10^(-14). pH of 1% soln 6.9. Aq solns of caffeine salts dissociate quickly. Absorption spectrum: Hartley, J. Chem. Soc. 87, 1802 (1905). One gram dissolves in 46 ml water, 5.5 ml water at 80 C, 1.5 ml boiling water, 66 ml alcohol, 22 ml alcohol at 60 C, 50 ml acetone, 5.5 ml chloroform, 530 ml ether, 100 ml benzene, 22 ml boiling benzene. Freely sol in pyrrole; in tetrahydrofuran contg about 4% water; also sol in ethyl acetate; slightly in petr ether. Soly in water is increased by alkali benzoates, cinnamates, citrates, or salicylates.

I translate this to suggest that mere 100C H2O isn't going to cause it to break down.

Most excellent! Thank you! 8-)

Well, it doesn't breakdown in tea at boiling (if anything higher water temperatures bring it into solution faster), though some quick googling doesn't find a breakdown or denaturing temperature. An old chemical reference claims "when heated to 100° C. (212° F.), caffeine loses its water of crystallization, and at 229° C. (444.2° F.) it melts, forming a colorless liquid" - implying that it *doesn't* get damaged at even that temperature, it just liquifies. (Presence of other chemicals might cause other reactions though - but it isn't *simple* decomposition, not from heat alone.)

(address: sent. thanks!)

Cool info - thanks! I'm sure presence of other chemicals does schtuff, otherwise caffeine would have no effect on our chilly little 98.6F bodies. But this is good enough for my inner armchair-kitchen-chemist.

(address received! post office run tomorrow. Caveat: dunno if this stuff has even set yet. Dunno if it will. It's a 'speriment.)

A friend is interested in the Mt. Dew jelly recipe.

(Heh. That sounds almost like, "A friend wants to know about an interesting groinal rash.")

Is it available? :)

It's available. It comes with no guarantees about groinal rashes.

I'm too lazy to retype

If I had any bread I'd taste test the stuff.

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It's my day for cooking adventures. Hey eichin!

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mmm.. Ginger...

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Wow. Just... Wow.

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