Jams and Jellies Prepared in the Laboratory
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Heat the crushed fruit with enough water to prevent scorching until softened.
Drain the pulped fruit in a jelly bag to obtain the juice.
Make the jam or jelly
For jams, mix 2 parts crushed fruit with 1 part sugar, heat to boiling, and maintain for 20 minutes.
For jellies, mix equal parts strained juice and sugar, heat to boiling, and maintain for 20 minutes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Crushed fruit
- Provides the bulk, flavour and pectin that help the jam set as it cooks.
- Sugar
- Sweetens and helps the mixture thicken and set by binding water and stabilising pectin.
- Strained juice
- Supplies the clear liquid base for jelly, carrying pectin and flavour to set firmly.
The step that matters
Boiling for 20 minutes with the sugar. Sugar and pectin need sustained boiling to reach the concentration at which the mixture gels. Too little boiling leaves it runny, while overcooking can darken and dull the flavour.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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