FoodNetArchive

The household cook book

1902

Page 364 · 1 recipe record on this page

Presented as published in 1902. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
When a sweet fruit, like the pear, etc., is used in making jelly, add some very sour apple juice — say about half; or for strawberries use red currant juice. Alone, the sweet fruits do not make good jel- ly because they lack pectose — the substance which causes fruit juice to jelly. Gelatine is sometimes added with cherries and some other fruits; allow a package to each | gallon of juice when it is used. Grapes are unreliable. Crab apples jelly readily. Combining 2 fruits, like | currants to ^ raspberries, improves the flavor of jams and jellies. Another excellent combination for jelly is ^ apple juice to |- peach juice. A delightful jelly is made from swamp huckleber- ies or low blackberries. Barberries, currants, apples, grapes and quinces all jelly well. Damsons make an excellent jelly. To Make Jelly. — In making jellies cut large fruit into small pieces; add water enough to prevent the fruit from burning — apples and quinces need just enough water to cover them, and currants less; cover the kettle and boil slowly until the fruit is soft. Then put both fruit and juice into the jelly bag, and allow it to drip, setting it in a warm place. Toward the last, squeeze the bag gently with the hand, or use 2 spoons, but do not be too anxious to squeeze out all the juice, as the more you squeeze it the cloudier you will make the jelly.* Measure the juice, and the general rule is to allow 1 lb. sugarJelly to each pint of juice, but quinces need only f lb. sugar to each lb. of juice. Now put the juice on the stove, bring it to a boil, and continue to boil without being covered, until done — 20 minutes being the rule for most fruits; skim frequently, as the more perfect the skimming the clearer the jelly will be ; do not boil it too hard. Have *Note. — Squeezing all the juice out of the bag makes the jelly cloudy; if it is not squeezed, much of the contents of the bag is often wasted. To prevent the ■waste some housewives use the juice which will drip through withoiit squeezing, and make a clear jelly for table use. The balance they squeeze out, and with it they make a second quality of jelly to use for cake, puddings, sauces, etc. It is good, but not so clear. 492 JELLIES the sugar ready heated (heat it in the oven wnile the juice is boiling, stirring it frequently from the bottom), and now drop it into the boiling juice, stirring constantly. Let it just come to a boil, and put at once into the jelly glasses; or another plan is to have a heated pitcher ready, with a piece of cheese cloth wet in liot water spread over the top. Pour the jelly, a dipperful at a time, through the strainer into the pitcher, and then turn it from the pitcher into the glasses, and set away to cool. The jelly glasses can be standing ready in a pan of hot water; take them out, drain, and turn in the jelly. In making jelly it should boil neither too long nor too short a time; if it boils too long a time it will be discolored and its flavor in- jured; if insufficiently boiled it will not keep well. The longer it boils the darker it becomes. If the juice is very watery, and the effort is made to evaporate the water by long boiling, the gelatiniz- ing property is destroyed, and it becomes gummy and will not jelly.