In Thursday’s post I explained how to freeze sweet corn; today, I’m going to share with you how to make corn cob jelly. Yes, you read that right, you can make jelly from corn cobs! Believe it or not, it tastes really good, the flavor is somewhat reminiscent of honey.
Corn Cob Jelly - adapted from CITR
1 gallon of water
2 dozen large corn cobs
1/4 cup lemon juice
5 tbsp flex-batch low-sugar pectin
4 cups sugar
Place water and cobs in a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat. (I had to cut some cobs to make them fit. I also had to divide the water and cobs into two pots to keep everything from overflowing!)
Boil hard for 30 minutes; the longer you boil it down the more concentrated flavor you will have. I ended up with 5 cups corn-liquid. Remove from heat and strain the liquid through a jelly bag or cheese cloth, or leave the corn bits in the liquid, that is what I did.
Return the liquid to a large pot, add lemon juice and pectin, bring to a boil. Add sugar and stir ’til dissolved; bring back to a rolling-boil and boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and ladle into hot, sterilized jars; wipe rims, adjust 2-piece lids and process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes. Yields 6 half pints
Corn cob jelly on warm cornbread.
Any chance of sampling this in Clearville? I’ll make the cornbread
Remind me and I’ll bring along a jar!
WHAT IS FLEX-BATCH MEAN?
Flex-batch pectin gives you the freedom to make jams and jellies in varying amounts. You measure the amount needed, per batch, giving you more flexibility when creating recipes. You can find it with canning supplies next to boxed pectin, it is usually in a jar.
I would have never guessed you could make jelly out of corn like this! So cool!
I was surprised to find it so tasty! I’ve been wanting to make it for years but kept forgetting!
Thank you Thank you thank you!!! I have been searching for this for years and people thought I was nuts when I asked about it. My mother used to make it and since she passed away this is the only recipe of hers I could not find. Thank you!
When you say corn cobs, are these cobs that the corn has been cut off of or cobs with the corn still on?
They are cobs where the corn has already been removed.
Corn cob jelly…how long will it last? Is it shelf stable or does it need to be refrigerated? Can it be frozen like my strawberry preserves are? Thanks for the help.
After processing in a boiling-water bath the jars are shelf stable and will last for a year. Obviously once you open the jar it must be refrigerated. I’d imagine you could freeze it but I’ve never tried. ☺
I made the jelly last night and canned it. This morning I checked it & it is still tummy in the jars, it did not firm up, what did I do wrong & how can I fix it?
Hi Melissa, sometimes it takes several days, or even weeks for jelly to set; grape is that way for me! If the jelly does not firm up over the next week, you can reprocess it. Open all your jars and empty them into a heavy-bottom pot, heat it to a rolling boil and add a bit more pectin (1 Tbsp at a time), bring it back to a boil and perform a gel test. If the jelly mounds up on a frozen spoon, ladle it into freshly sterilized jars and reprocess with new lids. Let me know if you have any more issues!