The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-07-14
CURRANT JELLY.

latitude of New York, or as soon as it is
thoroughly ripe, but before it has hung
for any length of time on the bushes.
The finest colored jelly is made by mix.
ing one-third white currants with two
thirds of red. Some housekeepers take
the trouble to put up red and white cur
rant jelly separately, but this is hardly
profitable, and seems waste of time, for
tine flavor of white currant jelly is new
er quite as rich as that of the red.
Select good medium-sized curTants.
The extremely large cherry currant is no
better for jelly than the ordinary variety,
if it is as good. 1t is most important
that the cunants should be thoroughly
ripe and that they be gathered on a dry
day after some days of dry weather.
sorbing moisture so rapidly that if it is
gathered in the rain or Immediately after
a season of rain it will be found to have
lost great deal of its gelatinous charac-
ter, and sometimes such fruit refuses to
boil into jelly. Look the currants over
very carefully, removing any imperfect
or de3ayed fruit and wash them. 1t is
not strictly necessary to stem them.
Put the currants without weighing them
| into stone jar with close cover Set
the jar in large iron kettle containing
warm water, and let this water boil till
the currants are soft 1t will take about
thirty minutes. Remove them from the
| fire, and bruise them little with pota-
to-masher in the jar. Then strain them
through a strong, coarse jelly strainer Of
cloth into large earthen bowl. The
| juice that runs through without pres
sure will make the finest colored jelly.
A coarser jelly suitable for cake and
pudding may be made from the juice
that is squeezed out by the pressure of
the hand or jelly press. Some author
tiles tell us that the jelly will be much
better and will come" much better if
the juice is now set away over night in
the cellar. 1t certainly does no harm to
do so; bnt at the same time, if you are
anxious to be through with the work,
you may go on with perfect assurance,
all things else being right, that the jelly
| will still come and will be just as
good, though it may require longer
boiling.
First measure the juice for the first
quality of jelly Allow pound of sugar
to pint of juice. Spread the sugar on
shallow pans and put it in the oven, but
put the juice in the whitest and cleanest
porcelain saucepans that you have. Let
the sugar heat in the oven while the
juice is coming to the boiling point over
the fire. Let the juice boil steadily for
twenty minutes after it once begins.
Then add the heated sugar. Let it boil
up after the sugar is added for three or
four minutes. Then test it by dropping
few drops into ice water or cooling a
few drops in spoon on a block of ice.
If it does not mix with the water but re-
mains solid, or if the drops in the spoon
turn to jelly, it is done. Skim off the
froth when the jelly comes" remove
the jelly from the fire and turn it as
quickly as possible into jelly bowls.
They are better than jelly glasses be-
cause they sare opaque and exclude the
light, which is now known to be an i'm
portant factor in the decomposition of
preserves or fruit. You can cool por-
ton of the jelly in tumbler to test it's
purity and clearness. Some preservers
60 so far as to strain their jelly after it is
boiled; but this is not necessary. 1t is,
however, very little trouble if one is pos
sessed of a fine Scotch-eap strainer,
which will certainly keep out any bits of
froth or possible impurities in the sugar.
Let the jelly become perfectly cold and
stand for at least twelve hours in a cool
place before sealing up. If, in spite of
all your care, the jelly does not seem
perfectly firm, it will be benefited by
putting glasses over it and setting it in
the hot sun for day or more. But this
should not be necessary. As soon as the
jelly is firm and has crested" a sufficient
time, press a paper wet in brandy close
ly over it and seal it up with second
paper, using the white of an egg for
mucillage, and brushing over the top of
no mi fI,a Of To
exclude the air. Some housekeepers al
so put thin layer of cotton wadding
over the top of this as well as of all their
other kinds of preserves. The coarser
jelly made from the juice extracted by
pressure may be spiced to use with
meats by boiling two ounces of crushed
cinnamon in bag to every five pints of
juice, and adding one ounce of whole |
cloves. The bag of cinnamon is removed |
when the jelly is poured in the bowls,
but the cloves look very pretty floating |
in the jelly. In all other particulars |
this jelly is made exactly like the first |
quality of jelly. If you do not like the |
flavor of the spices they may be omit
ted.
Spiced currants have become stand
ard article of the preserve closet. Allow
seven pounds of red currants, well
washed and stemmed to half pint of
strong vinegar and half pint of currant
juice. Add three and a half pounds of
sugar and boil the whole over the fire
until it becomes firm. 1t will take
about an hour and half. Stir it often
so it does not burn. About ten minutes
before the currants are removed from
the fire add two ounces of powdered
cinnamon and one ounce of cloves.
Turn the mixture, when it has been
sufficiently boiled, into straight MARINA
lade jars and seal 1T up like jelly.
Preserved currants are an old-time
dainty. The best fruit for this purpose
is the large cherry urrant, as it does
not contain so large a proportion of
seed. Take seven pounds of currants,
wash, stem and look them over careful
ly, to reject all decayed or imperfect
fruit, as these would ruin the preserve.
Make syrup of seven pounds of sugar
and three pounds of currant juice. Boil
the syrup for three minutes. Then add
the currants, with a pound of stoned
raisins, and cook them for from fifteen
to twenty minutes. Seal up the pre-
serves in cans or or in small stone pots.
The can is the cheapest and most con-
venient, because each can contains only
enough for a single service, while in tax
ing portion from the stone pots, which
are much larger, the remainder is ex-
posed to the light and more or less dis
turbed.
A delicious ielly. which is made in ex-