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Fruit Jellies

A preserved fruit jelly made by boiling fruit with sugar and setting the mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Fruit Jellies

Ingredients

Directions

Extract the juice

  1. Place a stone jar with fruit in a kettle of tepid water.

  2. Heat the jar on the stove until the fruit breaks down.

  3. Strain the mixture through a coarse bag.

  4. Press the bag to extract juice.

  5. Turn the bag inside out to remove pulp and skins.

Make the jelly

  1. For each pint of juice, add 1 pound of loaf sugar.

  2. Boil the juice alone for 20 minutes.

  3. While boiling, heat the sugar in a shallow dish in the oven. Stir the sugar to prevent burning.

  4. Once the juice has boiled for 20 minutes and the sugar is hot, add the sugar to the juice. Stir rapidly until dissolved.

  5. Bring the mixture to a boil again.

  6. Remove from heat.

Fill and set

  1. Roll glasses or cups in hot water.

  2. Fill the glasses with the hot jelly mixture.

  3. Let the jelly set for an hour.

  4. Seal and store as you would preserves.

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

Fruit
Its natural pectin and acid help the juice gel once sugar is added and boiled.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the juice and, with boiling, helps it set into a firm jelly.

The step that matters

Boiling the juice before adding the sugar. Boiling the juice for 20 minutes concentrates it and activates the fruit's pectin. Adding sugar to juice that is not hot enough can cool the mixture and slow dissolving, so the sugar should be warmed first, as the record directs.

“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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