Cooking with Beer - Stout Beer Jelly

If you're handy in the kitchen and are looking for ideas for homemade holiday gifts, this is a tasty gift for beer lovers or someone who enjoys cooking.

This beer jelly is yummy on toast or grilled cheese or roasted veggies or baked brie or roasted meat or burgers.  You get the picture.

And, with only three basic ingredients and a bit of canning know-how, this is a pretty easy recipe to make.

Stout Beer Jelly

2 Cans Guinness Draught

1 Box Pectin

3 1/2 Cups Sugar

A word of warning - use the biggest pot you have. Trust me, on this. Otherwise you're going to end up with an expansive lava-esque foamy frothy mess all over the place.

Pour the beer and pectin into the largest pot you own. Stirring continuously, bring to a boil. Keep on stirring and boil for one minute. 

Then add the sugar. This is when all the voluminous foam-ulation occurs. Stir, stir, stir. Don't stop even when big, fat, spumous bubbles start belching molten syrup out of the pot. Keep stirring for two minutes.


If you didn't use an enormous pot, this is when you'll wish you had.

Remove the pot from the heat. The foam will settle a bit now.  

Prepare canner pot. Put enough water in canner to cover filled jars with at least one inch of water. Bring to a rolling boil.

Ladle the jelly into clean sterilized jelly jars. Fill to within a 1/4 inch of the lip of the jars. You may need to top off the jars as the foam settles. Wipe the rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.

Process the jars for 10 minutes in a water bath. Remove the jars from the hot water bath and allow to sit undisturbed for at least 24 hours.

What's cool is that the jars look like little pints of Guinness. 

Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently, with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still use it.

Now, store them in a cool, dark place and use them as needed or gift them. 

Cheers!

(Hot water bath canning basics)