I took several recipes and, after experimenting (I have syrup and decided to leave it that way because it is *awesome*!!), I came up with one that worked with my batch. It's important that you only use the fat, juicy fruit (it must taste good right from the start). Much of my fruit that fell from the tree fell early and was bad. The only fruit I could use was the fruit on the bract that received the most sun. So taste test a few until you are sure you are getting the sweet, tart, ripe fruit. I'm just north of you and all my fruit as fallen so I'm surprised you have any left on your palm. btw, I found I can cook the fruit and save the juice in the refrigerator a few days before making jelly (I didn't go more than three days but it was easier to have it ready for the gelling stage).
Notes: You do *not* need food coloring with this recipe. My cooked jelly came out a gorgeous, dark amber color. I preferred using a long wooden spoon for stirring both the juice and the jelly and removing the foam.
Jackie's Butia Jelly:
5 cups juice
Juice of 1 lemon
1 box Sure-Jell fruit pectin
5 cups sugar
Remove the caps from the fruit (some people don't, but I prefer to do so) and rinse fruit thoroughly. Fill a large pot with the fruit to within two inches of the top (I used a tall, 6 qt pot and another about the same size). Cover the fruit with water, bring to a boil, and then cook at medium for 1 hour uncovered. About 40 minutes into the cooking process, I began mashing the fruit with a potato masher (I found this gives more fruit flavor to the jelly). Let the juice cool. Using several layers of dampened cheese cloth, strain the jelly into containers to go into the refrigerator. Let sit overnight. The fibers will settle to the bottom of the container. When you get ready to make jelly, slowly poor the juice from the refrigerated containers into another container leaving the pulp fiber at the bottom of the first container to discard.
To make Jelly:
In a large pot, combine palm juice and lemon juice, and stir in a box of pectin using a whisk. Heat to boiling and stir in sugar, continuing to stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring mixture back to a boil and turn heat down to medium high. Continue to cook for 25 minutes. Monitor closely so that it does not boil over. Remove foam as it builds or sticks to side of pot.
I then poured the jelly from the pot into a 2-cup, glass measuring cup (this makes it easier to poor into sterilized jars without having to wipe the rims or making a mess). Pour jelly into jars within 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the top. I refilled the measuring cup to continue pouring into jars until all the liquid was in the jars. Seal the lids immediately, invert jars for about 5 minutes, then turn them right side up (I forgot one batch and, when I finally turned them right-side up to cool, I ended up with a lot of bubbles in the jelly). Keep out of draft while cooling.
*Note* If you want syrup, use 3 quarts of fully ripe fruit with 6 cups of water, reduce the juice cooking time from one hour to 30 minutes (simmer), and the jelly cooking time from 25 minutes to just reaching rapid boil that cannot be stirred down (about one minute). Also, I did not mash the fruit during the process when I ended up with syrup. The syrup is definitely worth a try and was terrific on waffles.
