Maypop Jelly

From the garden

• 2½ lb ripe maypops (wild passionfruit), halved, pulp scooped out · ripe when the rind yellows and wrinkles and the fruit smells perfumed; to yield 3 cups juice

From the pantry

• 4 cups granulated sugar · measured out in advance
• 1¾ oz powdered fruit pectin · one standard box
• ¼ cup bottled lemon juice · ensures reliably safe acidity for water-bath canning

1. Halve the maypops and scoop the seedy pulp into a heavy pot; rinds go to the compost. Add 1 cup of water, bring to a simmer, and cook 5–10 minutes, mashing gently to loosen the aromatic pulp from the seeds.
2. Press the mixture through a fine sieve or drip it through a dampened jelly bag; the slippery seeds stay behind. Measure exactly 3 cups of juice, topping up with a splash of water if just short.
3. Fill a boiling-water canner and bring it to a simmer; keep 5 half-pint jars hot in the water and prepare the lids. Stir the pectin and lemon juice into the juice in a tall pot.
4. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add all the sugar at once, return to a rolling boil that stirring can't knock down, and boil hard exactly 1 minute. Off the heat, skim the foam.
5. Ladle into the hot jars leaving 1/4 inch of headspace, wipe the rims, and screw the lids on fingertip-tight. Process in boiling water covering the jars by 1–2 inches for 10 minutes. Altitude adjustment: add 5 minutes at 1,001–6,000 feet, 10 minutes above 6,000 feet.
6. Rest 5 minutes, lift the jars onto a towel, and cool undisturbed 12–24 hours before checking the seals. The flavor lands somewhere between guava and apricot; nothing else in the pantry tastes like it.