Name: Black-currant Jelly
Ingredients: 1/4 pint of water; 3 pints to 2 quarts of fruit should yield a pint of juice; 2 quarts of fruit should yield a pint of juice; a pint of juice; one hand

Black-currant Jelly

Ingredients

1/4 pint of water
3 pints to 2 quarts of fruit should yield a pint of juice
2 quarts of fruit should yield a pint of juice
a pint of juice
one hand

Directions

Prepare the juice

Strip the currants from the stalks by holding the bunch in one hand and passing a small silver fork down the currants; they will then readily fall from the stalks.
Put the currants into a jar.
Place the jar in a saucepan of boiling water and simmer until the juice is extracted.
Strain the currants.
If the jelly is wanted very clear, do not squeeze the fruit dry.
If the fruit is not much squeezed, convert it into jam by boiling with a little common sugar.

Make the jelly

Add 1/4 pint of water and 1 lb loaf sugar to every pint of juice.
Stir the ingredients together cold until the sugar is dissolved.
Place the preserving pan on the fire and boil the jelly for about ½ hour, removing scum as it rises.
If the jelly becomes firm when a little is put on a plate, it is done.

Pot and cover

Put the jelly into small pots and cover the same as jam in the preceding recipe.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Black currants (in the method): Provide the fruit juice that sets with sugar to form the jelly's flavour and body.
Loaf sugar (in the method): Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firm when boiled with the juice.

The step that matters

Boiling the jelly. Boiling drives off water and concentrates the pectin and sugar so the jelly sets; under-boiling leaves it runny, while over-boiling can darken and sour 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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Black-currant Jelly