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Dessert

Strawberry Jelly

A preserved strawberry spread made by bruising fruit, adding sugar and water, clarifying with isinglass, and setting in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Strawberry Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the strawberry juice

  1. Bruise fresh strawberries in an earthen pan with a wooden spoon.

  2. Add cold water and finely-pounded loaf sugar.

  3. Let it sit for 1-2 hours, then strain through a jelly bag.

Set the jelly

  1. Dissolve isinglass in ½ cup water, skim, strain, and cool.

  2. Mix the juice with the dissolved isinglass and pour into an earthen mold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Fresh strawberries
Provide the main flavour and colour, and their juice forms the body of the jelly.
Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the liquid into a sliceable jelly as it cools.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the tartness of the strawberry juice.

The step that matters

Dissolve isinglass in ½ cup water, skim, strain, and cool.. Isinglass must be fully dissolved and strained so no lumps or impurities remain. Any undissolved bits will show in the clear jelly and can leave weak spots in the set.

“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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