Beet Jelly

How weird is Beet Jelly? What exactly would you spread it on? Toast? SPAM?

I'd never heard of it, let alone eaten it until stumblin upon not one, but TWO recipes for it in the First Lutheran Church cookbook. I tried to pick one or the other, but finally gave up. The recipes are so unique that I just have to share them both. Enjoy!

Beet Jelly Recipe #1, by Nell Bremer
Ingredients:
4 c. beet water (peel and boil cut-up beets to get water)
5 c. sugar
1 pkg. raspberry Kool-Aid (do they even make that anymore?)
1 pkg. powdered pectin

How to:
Boil beet water, Kool-Aid, and pectin to full boil. Add sugar and boil again to full hard boil (ooh that's hot!) for 1 minute. Pour into jelly glasses. When cool, cover with paraffin and store. (Just below the end of the directions, separatin it from the next Beet Jelly recipe it says: "If you did all the things you should do before you go on vacation, it would be over before you started." What the hell does that mean? It's like some kind of Zen conundrum, like "the sound of one hand clapping"!)


Beet Jelly Recipe #2, by Esther Wolfgram
Ingredients:
6 c. beet juice
2 pkgs. Sure-Jell
1/3 c. real lemon juice (as opposed to the fake kind)
8 c. sugar (woah - WAY sugarier than the other one - this one gets my vote)
1-6 oz. pkg. raspberry jello (I take that back)

How to:
Scrub beets real good and cover with water and boil until almost done. (Beets can be canned for pickled beets or buttered beets.) (I'm glad Esther isn't wasteful with her beets. I'm lookin at you, Nell.) (Put juice through a cloth.) (Did that really need to be in parentheses? You're cuttin into my game here, Esther.) Bring beet juice to a boil and add 2 packages Sure-Jell and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Add 8 cups sugar and raspberry jello. Boil 6 or 8 minutes. Skim and put in jars and seal with wax.