The simplest method of making currant jelly is perhaps the following: Free the currants from leaves and large stems. Put them in the preserving kettle; crush a few with a wooden vegetable masher or spoon; heat slowly, stirring frequently.
When the currants are hot, crush them with the vegetable masher. Put a hair sieve or strainer over a large bowl; over this spread a double square of cheese cloth. Turn the crushed fruit and juice into the cheese cloth, and let it drain as long as it drips, but do not usepressure. To hasten the process take the corners of the straining cloth firmly in the hands and lift from the sieve; move the contents by raising one side of the cloth and then the other. After this put the cloth over another bowl. Twist the ends together and press out as much juice as possible. This juice may be used to make a second quality of jelly.
The clear juice may be made into jelly at once, or it may be strained through a flannel bag. In any case, the method of making the jelly is the same.
Measure the juice, and put it in a clean preserving kettle. For every pint of juice add a pint of granulated sugar.
Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then place over the fire; watch closely, and when it boils up draw it back and skim; put over the fire again, and boil and skim once more; boil and skim a third time; then pour into hot glasses taken from the pan of water on the stove and set on a board. Place the board near a sunny window in a room where there is no dust. It is a great protection and advantage to have sheets of glass to lay on top of the tumblers. As soon as the jelly is set cover by one of the three methods given. (See p. 29.)
To make very transparent currant jelly, heat, crush, and strain the currants as directed in the simplest process. Put the strained juice in the flannel bag and let it drain through. Measure the juice and sugar, pint for pint, and finish as directed above.
To make currant jelly by the cold process follow the first rule for jelly as far as dissolving the sugar in the strained juice. Fill warm, sterilized glasses with this. Place the glasses on a board and put the board by a sunny window. Cover with sheets of glass and keep by the window until the jelly is set. The jelly will be more transparent if the juice is strained through the flannel bag. Jelly made by the cold process is more delicate than that made by boiling, but it does not keep quite so well.
Make the same as currant jelly, using half currants and half raspberries.
Make the same as currant jelly.
Make the same as currant jelly.
To 10 quarts of strawberries add 2 quarts of currants and proceed as for currant jelly, but boil fifteen minutes.
An acid grape is best for this jelly. The sweet, ripe grapes contain too much sugar. Half-ripe fruit, or equal portions of nearly ripe and green grapes, will also be found satisfactory. Wild grapes make delicious jelly. Make the same as currant jelly.
Make the same as apple jelly.
Use an underripe acid plum. Wash the fruit and remove the stems. Put into the preserving kettle with 1 quart of water for each peck of fruit. Cook gently until the plums are boiled to pieces. Strain the juice and proceed the same as for currant jelly.
Wash, stem, and wipe the apples, being careful to clean the blossom end thoroughly. Cut into quarters and put into the preserving kettle. Barely cover with cold water (about 4 quarts of water to 8 of apples) and cook gently until the apples are soft and clear. Strain the juice and proceed as for currant jelly. There should be but 3 quarts of juice from 8 quarts of apples and 4 of water.
Apples vary in the percentage of sugar and acid they contain. A fine-flavored acid apple should be employed when possible. Apple jelly may be made at any time of the year, but winter apples are best and should be used when in their prime, i. e., from the fall to December or January. When it is found necessary to make apple jelly in the spring, add the juice of one lemon to every pint of apple juice.
Make the same as plain apple jelly, but covering the apples with cider instead of water. The cider must be fresh from the press.
Make the same as plain apple jelly.
Rub the quinces with a coarse crash towel; cut out the blossom end. Wash the fruit and pare it and cut in quarters. Cut out the cores, putting them in a dish by themselves. Have a large bowl half full of water; drop the perfect pieces of fruit into this bowl. Put the parings and imperfect parts, cut very fine, into the preserving kettle. Add a quart of water to every 2 quarts of fruit and parings. Put on the fire and cook gently for two hours. Strain and finish the same asapple jelly. The perfect fruit may be preserved or canned.
To make quince jelly of a second quality, when the parings and fruit are put on to cook put the cores into another kettle and cover them generously with water and cook two hours. After all the juice has been drained from the parings and fruit, put what remains into the preserving kettle with the cores. Mix well and turn into the straining cloth. Press all the juice possible from this mixture. Put the juice in the preserving kettle with a pint of sugar to a pint of juice; boil ten minutes.
Wild raspberries, blackberries, barberries, grapes, and beach plums all make delicious jellies. The frequent failures in making barberry jelly come from the fruit not being fresh or from being overripe.
Sterilize the glasses; take from the boiling water and set them in a shallow baking pan in which there is about 2 inches of boiling water.
Jellies are so rich in sugar that they are protected from bacteria and yeasts, but they must be covered carefully to protect them from mold spores and evaporation. The following methods of covering jellies are all good:
Have disks of thick white paper the size of the top of the glass. When the jelly is set, brush the top over with brandy or alcohol. Dip a disk of paper in the spirits and put it on the jelly. If the glasses have covers, put them on. If there are no covers, cut disks of paper about half an inch in diameter larger than the top of the glass. Beat together the white of one egg and a tablespoonful of cold water. Wet the paper covers with this mixture and put over the glass, pressing down the sides well to make them stick to the glass; or the covers may be dipped in olive oil and be tied on the glasses, but they must be cut a little larger than when the white of egg is used.
A thick coating of paraffin makes a good cover, but not quite so safe as the paper dipped in brandy or alcohol, because the spirits destroy any mold spores that may happen to rest on the jelly. If such spores are covered with the paraffin they may develop under it. However, the paper wet with spirits could be put on first and the paraffin poured over it.
If paraffin is used, break it into pieces and put in a cup. Set the cup in a pan of warm water on the back of the stove. In a few moments it will be melted enough to cover the jelly. Have the coating about a fourth of an inch thick. In cooling the paraffin contracts, and if the layer is very thin it will crack and leave a portion of the jelly exposed.
Fruit juice is most desirable for drinking or for culinary purposes. Grape juice is particularly good as a drink. It may be canned with or without sugar but, except where the grapes have a large percentage of sugar, as is the case in California, some sugar should be added to the juice in canning.
Currant juice may be sterilized and canned without sugar. This juice may be made into jelly at any season of the year.
Fruit juices that are designed for use in frozen creams and water ices should be canned with a generous amount of sugar.
For grape juice good bottles are to be preferred to fruit cans. If you can get the self-sealing bottles, such as pop or beer comes in, the work of putting up grape juice will be light. If bottles are employed, be very careful to sterilize both bottles and corks.
Wash the grapes and pick from the stems. Put the fruit in the preserving kettle and crush slightly. Heat slowly and boil gently for half an hour. Crush the fruit with a wooden spoon.
Put a sieve or colander over a large bowl and spread a square of cheese cloth over the sieve. Turn the fruit and juice into the cheese cloth; drain well, then draw the edges of the cheese cloth together and twist hard to press out all the juice possible.
Put the strained juice in a clean preserving kettle and on the fire. When it boils up, draw back and skim. Let it boil up again and skim; then add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Boil five minutes, skimming carefully. Fill hot sterilized jars or bottles. Put the jars or bottles in a moderate oven for ten minutes, in pans of boiling water. Have some boiling juice and pour a little of it into the jars as they are taken from the oven; then seal. Place on boards and set aside out of a cold draft.
A good proportion of sugar and juice is 1 gill of sugar to a quart of juice. The preparation and use of grape juice has been discussed at length in an earlier bulletin of this series.[a]
With all these fruits except currants, proceed the same as for grape juice, but adding half a pint of sugar to each quart of juice. Currants will require 1 pint of sugar to a quart of juice.
To preserve the juice of cherries, plums, peaches, and similar fruits, proceed as for jelly, but adding to each quart of juice half a pint of sugar instead of a quart as for jelly. If it is not desired to have the fruit juice transparent, the pulp of the fruit may be pressed to extract all the liquid.
The only difference between sirups and juice is that in the sirup there must be at least half as much sugar as fruit juice.
These sirups are used for flavoring ice creams and water ices. They also make a delicious drink, when two or three spoonfuls are added to a glass of ice water.
Put 4 quarts of raspberries in a bowl and pour over them 2 quarts of vinegar. Cover and set in a cool place for two days. On the second day strain the vinegar through cheese cloth. Put 4 quarts of fresh raspberries in the bowl and pour over them the vinegar strained from the first raspberries. Put in a cool place for two days, then strain. Put the strained juice in a preserving kettle with 3 quarts of sugar. Heat slowly, and when the vinegar boils skim carefully. Boil twenty minutes, then put in sterilized bottles.
About 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar to a glass of water makes a refreshing drink.
Similar vinegars may be made from blackberries and strawberries.
FOOTNOTES:[a]U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bulletin No. 175.
[a]U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bulletin No. 175.
[a]U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bulletin No. 175.
Transcriber's Note:The following typographical errors were corrected:p. 10: crackng to cracking (the cracking of jars)p. 17: 22 to 18 (see p. 18)p. 19: 17 to 13 (see p. 13)p. 19: 14 to 10 (See fruit pricker, p. 10.)p. 20: 18 to 14 (The data on page 14)p. 21: 14 to 10 (see p. 10)p. 26: crytallize to crystallize (to crystallize in time)Irregularity in hyphenation (e.g. jelly-making vs. jelly making) and compound words (e.g. wash boiler vs. washboiler) has not been corrected.
The following typographical errors were corrected:
Irregularity in hyphenation (e.g. jelly-making vs. jelly making) and compound words (e.g. wash boiler vs. washboiler) has not been corrected.