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Dessert

Cranberry Jelly

A fruit preserve made from cranberries and sugar, cooked and set in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Cranberry Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the berries

  1. Pick over and wash the cranberries, then drain them.

  2. Place the wet berries in the inner vessel of a double boiler and fill the outer vessel with lukewarm water.

  3. Cover closely and bring to a boil, keeping it boiling until the berries are broken and scalding hot.

Strain and set

  1. Strain and press the mixture through a cheesecloth bag into a clean saucepan.

  2. Quickly heat the strained juice to boiling.

  3. Add 1 cup of sugar that has been heated in the oven, and remove from heat as soon as the sugar melts.

  4. When almost cold, pour into a mold that has been wet with cold water.

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

Cranberries
Provide the tart flavor and the pectin that lets the juice set into a jelly.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tartness, and helps the jelly hold its firm texture.

The step that matters

Remove from heat as soon as the sugar melts. Sugar dissolves quickly in hot juice, and prolonged boiling can over-concentrate and darken the flavor or cause the jelly to set too firmly or turn 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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