Corn Cob Jelly Recipe
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I decided to try something fun. Corn Cob Jelly sounds weird but hey, if you add enough sugar even corn cobs can turn out tasty. We freeze corn every year and we have LOTS of cobs we throw away every year! Let’s use those and make a treat instead.
Corn cob jelly is made in 3 steps. First make a juice from stripped cobs of corn, then make corn cob jelly with sure-jel pectin, finally process in a water bath canner.
Label your jars with pretty printable Canning Labels! Check them out.
Quantity
One batch will give you about 4 half pints of jelly.
For each batch of jelly you need to have 3 cups of corn liquid. For a single batch it is suggested that you use 12 cobs and 2 quarts of water.
When I made this I just filled my stock pot with cobs and covered it with water. I had plenty! I made more than one batch of jelly.
Know your Canner
This is a water bath canning project. It is also perfect for a steam canner! If you haven’t tried water bath canning or steam canning yet. I highly recommend checking out
These tutorials will introduce you to both canning methods and help you choose the method that suits your needs best. And how to set up and run the processing step.
Corn Cob Jelly extended directions and tips
Gather your canning supplies
- water bath canner
- canning jars
- canning lids and rings
- jar lifter and canning funnel
- large pot
- bowls
- large spoons
- sharp knife
- towels and dish cloths
- ladle
- cheesecloth or jelly bag
Ingredients
- 1 dozen corn cobs
- Approximately 2 quarts water
- 1 3/4 ounces powdered pectin (1 package) Sure-jel Brand Pectin
- 3 cups sugar
Preparing the Corn Juice
First you need to remove the kernels if you have not already. Blanch corn cobs for 5 minutes.
Then cut the kernels from the cobs. You can then use these kernels for canning, freezing or other recipes. The day I did this we had been freezing corn for the winter, and I just saved enough cobs to fill my stock pot.
For each batch of jelly, use about 12 cobs and 2 quarts of water. I just filled my stock pot with cobs as I had plenty. I made more than one batch of jelly.
Next make a juice from your corn cobs by cooking those cobs in water.
Put corncobs in a large stock pot. Then cover the cobs with water. Bring to a boil, and boil for 35-40 minutes. Liquid will reduce during that time. That’s ok. I keep the lid on to make this more efficient and to loose less water.
I did this out in my carport with my volcano grill.
You’ll need to end up with 3 cups of liquid for each batch of jelly you want to make.
I had plenty! You might want just enough for one batch or two. I ended up making two batches of jelly here.
Allow the juice to cool enough to handle easily. Then strain your juice through double cheesecloth.
How to Make Corn Cob Jelly
Measure out 3 cups of juice.
It is difficult to make double batches of jelly so be sure and make a batch at a time. What I do is separate pots cooking at the same time. Then I can process the batches all at once.
- Measure out 3 cups of corn liquid. Stir in the pectin and bring to a boil.
- Add the sugar all at once, which will likely stop the boil. Bring back to a boil while stirring.
- Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove from the heat and skim off any foam if needed.
This was made with SureJel Brand Pectin.
Canning Corn Cob Jelly
Fill your jars with hot jelly, leaving a 1/4-inch headspace. The headspace is the distance between the food and the flat canning lid.
Wipe the rims clean with a damp cloth or paper towel. You don’t want the stickiness to interfere with the seal.
Place your lids on the jar. I’m using reusable canning lids for this project.
The jelly is now ready to be processed in a water bath or a steam canner. I highly recommend steam canning. But a simple water bath works too. Check the links at the top of this page for more detains on each canning method.
Process your corn cob jelly; both 1/2 pints or pints need 10 minutes in a water bath canner.
Altitude Adjustments for Boiling Water Bath Canner
- Altitude in Feet – processing time
- 0-1,001- 10 minutes
- 1,001-6,000 – 15 minutes
- 6,001 and higher – 20 minutes
For more information on why this is important, see this altitude adjustments page.
More Ways to Preserve Corn
- Freezing Corn (either on the cob or off the cob)
- Canning Corn
- Corn Relish. (this is a pickled relish that does not need a pressure canner.)
- Dehydrating Corn
Corn Cob Jelly Recipe Card
Corn Cob Jelly
Equipment
- Measuring Cup large glass one, like a Pyrex
- Cheesecloth or jelly bag
Ingredients
- 12 Corn Cobs Blanch corn for 5 minutes. Cut kernels from cob, reserving kernels for another recipe.
- 2 quarts Water approximately
- 1 ¾ ounces Sure Jel Brand Powdered Pectin 1 package
- 3 cups Sugar
Instructions
For Juice
- Put corncobs in pot of water.
- Bring to a boil. Boil for 35-40 minutes.
- Strain liquid through double cheesecloth.
For Jelly
- Start by preparing jars and getting water in the canner heating.You want the canner hot, but not boiling, when the jars are ready to be processed. See full water bath canning instructions here.
- Measure out 3 cups of strained liquid. Stir in the pectin and bring to a boil.
- Add the sugar all at once, which will likely stop the boil. Bring back to a boil while stirring.
- Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat.
- Skim foam if needed.
- Put hot jelly into hot jar, leaving 1/4” headspace.
- Remove air bubbles, wipe rim clean, and place seal and ring.
- Place jar in the warm canner. Proceed to fill all jars.
- Process according to directions below.
Notes
- 0-1,000 ft – 10 minutes
- 1,001-6,000 ft – 15 minutes
- 6,001+ – 20 minutes
My grandmother used to can this every year. I would tell people about it and they didn’t believe there was such a thing until I produced a jar and they loved it. Grandma canned this, spiced apple rings, watermelon rind pickles and sugar beet pickles. They were all so good!!!
Could I double the recipe? Three cups of juice just makes 4-1/2 pints. With all the other jelly recipe I get 8-1/2 pint with 4 or 5 cups of juice and 1 sure je.l
Yes, in that case just follow the instruction on the sure jel package.
I usually scrape my cobs with a butter knife to make creamed corn. Can I still do that or should I leave that juice on the cobs for the jelly?
Leave some for the jelly. :).
I am very confused by this recipe. There is no way to make this jelly shelf stable, other than pressure canning. There are no acidic ingredients. Corn has to be pressure canned…. Pectin does not add acidity to prevent botulism. This would have to be refrigerated.
Hi Saffron, You are correct that corn needs to be processed in a pressure canner. This however is a tested recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. It has been tested as safe. There is a lot of sugar, and there is citric acid in powdered pectin. I include a link in the article above to the resource. Here it is again. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/corncob_jelly.html Corn can also be canned as a pickled item. Here is a corn relish recipe that we like that is done in a water bath. Again this is a tested recipe. I hope this helps.… Read more »
Does the corn cob Jelly have to be made the same day you cut the kernels off?
You could put them in the fridge for a day or two, I suppose, and then take them out to make the jelly. But I expect it would taste better the fresher you made it.
-Rachel (Sharon’s assistant)
I always freeze my corn cobs until I get enough to make jelly- with only two in my family, I usually only make 2-4 cobs of corn at a time, I’ve made corn cob jelly since I lived on the farm as a child- you can use it as a substitute for honey in many recipes.
I grow a lot of peppers to make pepper jellies, which can be used in cream cheese, for glazes and as toppings. Aside from toast and a PB&J, what can you do with corn cob jelly? What does it go best with?
great question….. We just use them on crackers and pbjs. So I’m not much help. I would think it would be great as a glaze, or over ice cream too as you mentioned. I’m going to see what my FB clan says! 🙂
I didn’t think anyone else knew about corn cob jelly. My grandmother use to make this because she went through the great depression and they didn’t waste anything. I continued making it. It’s a nice change when you want a lite tasting jelly.