After hemming and hawing about it for years, I finally broke down and put
out the money to buy a 25-pound bag of Clear Jell (that's how it comes at
the Cash & Carry where I bought it). $40, but a friend of mine who cans is
going to buy half of it from me so that decreases the ouch factor a bit.

First, I made a couple of jars of apple pie filling just to see how it would
work. I followed the directions on the NCHFP site, but I'm wondering if
maybe the amount of Clear Jel specified per quart is a little more than
necessary. It calls for 1/4 cup, plus 2 tbsp and it made the mixture
really, really thick. It was very difficult to get it to boil as the
directions stated since it got so thick and started sticking to the pan. No
amount of stirring helped. I went ahead and finished making the filling and
put it in the jars and processed it and it looks really pretty. I actually
had a little more filling than would fit in the jars so I put that in a
separate container in the fridge. Taste testing confirms that it's really,
really yummy.

Last night, I made one quart of plum pie filling. There's no recipe for it,
but I followed the directions for blueberry this time instead of apple since
it didn't call for apple juice or cinnamon. I have an Italian prune plum
tree that has produced much too abundantly this year and I have to do
something other than just can the plums or make them into jam or dehydrate
them. Same problem with it getting too thick.

Is it okay to experiment with the amount of Clear Jel to get it to the
consistency I want?

-Marilyn