Doctors prescribe 1-2 glasses of wine daily. I certainly have no problems following my doctor’s orders! But I know, our schedules are busy and sometimes it seems hard to fit in those two glasses every day. Apparently it’s frowned upon to sip wine at work, where many of us spend 8+ hours a day. Plus commuting–wine on commuter trains is usually not allowed and wine and driving, not a good combination. But what if you could fit your daily servings in at other parts of the day like breakfast? Or consume wine WITHOUT being frowned upon at work? It can be done.

I present to you Wine Jelly. Spread it on toast for breakfast, have a PB&(w)J for lunch. Or cook with it–glazed pork chops anyone? I’ve had wine (and beer jelly) in the past from artisan vendors but never really thought of making it myself until now. We had a 1.5L bottle of (not the highest quality) Merlot that was opened at my birthday party but only one glass was poured. I’m not a huge fan of Merlot to begin with, so it sat around for a week or so. Then during my new canning projects exploration, came across a recipe for wine jelly from The Feed. I was immediately intrigued.

I almost doubled the recipe, since I had almost two bottles of wine. Which really meant I used the wine that I had and doubled the other ingredients. It worked all except having too much pectin. The jelly ended up a bit thick for my taste. In the future I might try experimenting a bit and reducing the called for 1 packet of pectin by about a quarter. Otherwise, it turned out perfect. Nothing like a little bread and buzz for breakfast!

Homemade Wine Jelly (Adapted from The Feed) Makes 4 8oz jars

• 1 (750-ml) bottle red wine (think full bodied, fruit forward)
• 3 c sugar
• 1 (3-ounce) envelope liquid pectin
• 3 tbsp lemon juice

Bring 1¼ cups wine to boil in small saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook until reduced to ⅓ cup, 15 to 20 minutes; set aside. Bring remaining wine and sugar to boil in large saucepan, stirring frequently. Stir in pectin, lemon juice, and butter, and return to vigorous boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in reserved reduced wine.

Transfer jelly, while still hot, to hot, sterilized 1-cup jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, and process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath.

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