Jellies, Jams, and Preserves
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cook jellies in porcelain or granite ware.
Select fruits that are not quite ripe and avoid using much water.
Do not make more than 2 quarts of jelly at a time.
Strain
Pour the cooked fruit into a three-cornered bag to extract juice without pressing it.
Dip the bag in water before pouring in the fruit to prevent waste and expedite straining.
Cook and test
Boil the juice for 10 minutes before adding sugar, then boil for an additional 10 minutes.
To test if it's done, drop a little on a saucer and let it cool; if it remains rounded, it's ready.
Skim the foam just before pouring into glasses.
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
- Fruits
- Under-ripe fruit supplies the pectin and acid that help the juice set into a gel.
- Sugar
- Sugar concentrates the juice, helping it gel and keeping the finished product sweet and preserved.
The step that matters
Testing for doneness on a cooled saucer. Jelly sets only when enough water has evaporated and the pectin, acid and sugar reach the right balance. A small cooled sample shows whether the mixture will gel. Stopping too early leaves runny jelly, while cooking too long can make it stiff or grainy.
“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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