Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-07-08
Tablet alks..
By Jeannette Boyer, Home Service Dept.
Royal Milling Company
JELLY MAKING

"a
II someone were to ask you what
makes jelly jell. what would you say2
Perhaps you'd scratch your head n
wonder. 90. Or maybe you'd answer.
"Oh. that mysterious substance. you
know-pectin."
II you've answered pectin, you are
partly right, that is you are o~ne-fourth
right, because there are four materials
necessary for Jelly making, and they are.
(1) pectin, az acid, (3) liquid n az
sugar.
/ don't know why we should consider
pectin as such a mysterious substance
any more thai sugar or starch. The
only thing is, 1t isn't as ommon m
occurs in some fruits and vegetables
more than others. 1t is found especially
in the cell walls of many fruits, in the
roots and stems of certain vegetables.
particularly carrots. beets and also ruta-
bagas.
The fruits which are the most rich in
pectin are currants, gooseberries, cram
berries, green and wild grapes, plums.
green and crab apples, ounce. The
highest amour OF pectin in any OF
these is found when the fruit is green.
The pectin in the fresh fruit is in
soluble n 1t is necessary to boil The
fruit with a weak acid SO that it will
change to a soluble form which thick
ems fruit juice. Therefore. fruit Juice
containing pectin needs 10 be heated to
have much jellying power. Long boil
ing, however, with an acid will destroy
much OF the Jellying power Of thu pectin.
changing 1t to poetic acid which will not
jelly. For that reason the juice should
be boiled rapidly to make the cooking
time as short as possible.
To Test for Pectin
A simple test to discover whether the
fruit contains pectin enough for firm
jelly, is to use either wood or grain al
cohol. Put a small amount of alcohol
into an equal amount of fruit juice.
If you can pick up the precipitate with
your fingers, there is an abundance OF
pectin. which is around n per cent.
II the precipitate separates and will not
hold together, but yet can be felt, there
is still enough firm jelly. which is about
rs per cent. If there is less p~recipitate
a firm jelly without adding other juice
which is concentrated and rich In pee
tin, or adding commercial pectin.
Commercial Pectin
Pectin is manufactured commercially
in several forms. The most common is
the liquid, which is added to fruit with
sugar and boiled for a few minutes. The
directions which come with the bottle
are satisfactory to follow. 1t also comes
times mixed with sugar, or dry n pure.
BY using commercial pectin. delicious
favored jelies can be made OF fruits
which 10 not usually appear In jelly and
do not contain sufficient pectin alone.
such as cherries, peaches, pineapple, rhu-
barb and strawberries. Mint Jelly to be
served with lamb can be made with
water. mint f1avoring. sugar and pectin
and colored green.
Nevertheless, the jellies made with pee
tin added, do not keep as we'll as those
which contain pectin in the natural
fruit juices, although all jellies naturally
deteriorate on storing.
The Acid
Many of the fruit juices have sufi-
cient acid in them to change the fruit
pectin to It's soluble form. However. II
the juice is not slightly acid. lemon or
orange juice. or vinegar can be added,
But the acid must not be too strong or
else the jelly will have a sharp flavor.
Too much acid also hydrolizes the sugar,
causing the jelly to be watery. as cram
berry jelly sometimes is.
The amount of sugar necessary in jelly
depends ON the amount of pectin in the
Juice. The richer the Juice is in pectin
the more sugar one can add. and the
less pectin there is, the less sugar should
be used.
The reason for this is that sugar makes
the jelly tender n pectin makes II
| Stlt. oukdl dASO llClCdoCo tAC
and the more sugar one can use, the
more jelly can be gotten from the sams
quantity OF Juice. II the pure juice
without sugar, should be boiled to thu
jelly state, 1T would take a long time tx
reach it, boiling down to almost nothing
The jelly would be dark colOred, stront
: favored and very tough and leathery. Or
the other hand, IL too much sugar 4
added, the jelly stage is reached 0
but the jelly will be sticky and fluid.
The ideal to strive for is q jelly which
is tender but not sticky. which will hols
its shape but not be tough. The proper
ton Of sugar to pectin will determine
that.
In Juice such as that from gooseber
, ries and currants which is rich in pectir
giving the one per cent test, the RICH
proportion is usually / cup OF sugar +
/ cup of liquid. II the pectin is not s.
: abundant, q cup OF sugar to ! cup O
Z liquid will give a firm Jelly.
1t Is very important that jelly shout
g have just the right amount Of cooking
! AS we have said. it should boil rapidly
4 Most people are likely to cook 1t to
g long, and when 1t Is gummy they won
s der what the trouble is. Many house
I wives never make jelly hat isn't tough
e Too long cooking will inevitably max
d jelly rubbery, n not the tender culver
ling well-shaped dome 1t should be.