Fruits — From the COOKS.COM Culinary Archive.

FRUITS

JELLY

  Jellies are made from fruits which are rich in pectin and which contain the correct amount of acid.  Pectin is one of the minor carbohydrates and is sometimes called vegetable jelly.  It is found in the juice, skin, and core of fruits when not quite or just ripe.

  Pectin is soluble in the fruit juices but has the power of gelatinizing into a stiff jelly when the acid juice is heated with sugar and then cooled.  The amount of acid diminishes as fruits ripen and the pectin also changes.

  Fruits which have ripened fully and are quite sweet, or which do not contain pectin will not stiffen into a firm jelly.  They become merely a thick, gummy paste, or syrup, quite unlike the transparent, tender, perfect semi-solid jelly, which holds its shape when turned out, yet quivers and may be cut into sparkling slivers without liquefying.  But by combining these fruit juices with those of a more acid nature a firm jelly may be made.

  The best fruits for jelly are currants, sour apples ripened in late summer, wild grapes, plums, low, wild blackberries, crab apples, and quinces.

  Raspberries with currants; barberries with apples; pear, peach and pineapple with apples; rhubarb grown in September combined with apples are combinations which have been tried with success.

  Equal measures of juice and granulated sugar warmed in the oven is the general proportion for currants and quinces; one fourth less sugar for apple and one fourth more sugar for barberries and wild grapes.

  Currants, raspberries, and other juicy fruits need little or no water, merely enough to cover the pan and help in the slight heating needed to start the juice.

  With apples, quinces, and other firm fruits, wash, but do not pare except to remove any defective spots; discard the seeds in quinces; add water to nearly cover the fruit, and stew until tender.

  Drain and let the juice drip without pressure.  

  When using a mixture of fruit juices, or you are uncertain of the presence of pectin, boil a little of the juice and when cool add an equal amount of grain alcohol; insert a spoon and if a gelatinous mass appears the juice contains pectin.

  When fruit is over-ripe, or gathered just after the rain and is watery, or is boiled too long, the juice is not likely to stiffen.  Boiling violently causes crystals to appear after it cools, particularly in ripe grapes.  Do not stir it when boiling as the scum will be mixed in and the jelly will be tough and coarse.  If the scum is not removed the jelly will not be clear.  Boil not more than a quart at a time, and have everything ready; sugar heating, glasses in hot water — before boiling begins.  Jelly is done when it breaks in drops or flakes from the spoon, or stiffens when dropped on a cold plate.

  Follow the directions for the various kinds of jelly as given in the recipes.

  After filling jelly glasses, put them on a tray and cover with cheese cloth until the jelly is firm.  Then handle with care, for the jelly in hardening adheres to the glass, making it air tight around the edge.  Jellies often spoil because of too great haste to see the inside texture.

  Melted paraffin poured hot over the fruit will seal securely, but some prefer to cover the jelly with paraffin paper.  See that the cover fits the glass, or cover it with paper cut one half inch larger than the glass top.  Moisten the edge with paste and put it over, pressing it to the glass in uniform folds.  Label glasses with name of fruit and date.

APPLE JELLY

  After washing the apples, wipe, and remove the stems and blossom end.  Cut the apples into quarters, and place in a granite kettle with enough water nearly to cover them.  Cook slowly until the apples are soft; crush and drain through a sieve; then lay a cheese cloth over a bowl; turn in the juice; tie the corners of the cheese cloth together and hang it where it may drip.  Measure the juice and boil it fifteen minutes.  Add an equal measure of heated granulated sugar and boil slowly five minutes.  Skim and pour into sterilized glasses.

PLUM JELLY

  Put the plums, which may be either damsons, red, or beach plums, into the preserving kettle, with water to cover.  Heat slowly, and simmer until the plums will mash readily, then turn into a flannel jelly-bag or a cheese cloth strainer as for apple jelly, and drip until the pulp is dry.  Boil the juice rapidly twenty minutes, skimming often.  Remove it from the fire, measure, and return it to the fire; as soon as it boils again, add as many bowls of sugar as you have of juice, and boil until it jellies, which will be fifteen or twenty minutes.  Pour into tumblers, and stand aside two or three days, then cover with paper, and put in a cool, dry place.

GRAPE JUICE

  Select sound, sweet grapes, well ripened but not over-ripe.  Wash, pick from the stems and put them into an enamel preserving pan over a slow fire.  Mash with a pestle and heat, not boil, about fifteen minutes, or until seeds are freed form pulp.  Lay a large square of cheese cloth over a bowl, turn in the grapes, tie the corners and hang to drip without pressure for twenty-four hours.  Next morning heat juice to boiling point and turn immediately into sterilized jars or bottles and seal.  This is pure grape juice; in serving dilute with water and chipped ice and sweeten to taste.

  If a weaker quality is desired, allow one quart cold water to eight pounds Concord grapes.  Wash, stem, heat, mash and boil fifteen minutes.  Strain, cool, and press out all the juice.  Allow one cup sugar to one quart juice, boil fifteen minutes, remove scum, fill sterilized bottles, and seal.

But the fruit that can fall without shaking,
Indeed is too mellow for me.
 
  Lady Mary Wortley Montagu