Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-04

N order to make a good fruit jelly
the fruit juice to be used must con-
tain the right kind and quantity of
acid and the right amount of pectin.
Without pectin the fruit juice will not
jell, but even If the fruit juice has
pectin and acid, good jelly will not
be the result unless the right amount
of sugar is added and the mixture is
boiled down to the right consistency.
Pecttn Is more abundant in slightly
underripe fruits than in the fully
ripened or overripe kind. In such fruits
as apples and ounces pectin is usually
rather abundant in the skins and cores,
so if the fruit pulp is not to be used
for jam later on, If is not necessary
to remove the skins and cores when ex-
tracing the Juice for jelly from these
fruits.
Some fruits naturally yield juices
with the right amount of pectin and
acid to produce good jelly. Among
those that are especially good are cur
rants, crabapples, sour apples, under
ripe grapes and some varieties of plums.
With care, good jelly may be made from
blackberries and raspberries, but at least
half of them should be underripe when
used, and they must be strictly fresh.
Some fruits, such as cherries, apricots,
peaches, strawberries, pineapple and
rhubarb. are lacking In pectin. Some
fruits, such as sweet apples, peaches,
pears and sometimes ounces, are lack
ing in acid. Jelly may be made from
the juice of these fruits by combining
it with the juice of fruits rich in pee
tin and acid, such as currantS, crab
apples or apples. It is we'll to taste the
fruit juice, and II 1t has as decided an
acid taste as a tart apple 1t has suff1-
cient acid for jelly making. There are
number OF ways Of supplying acid to
fruit juices which are lacking in acid.
You may add lemon juice or the juice
OF any other citrus fruit, or add two or
three slices OF lemon, or add equal
quantities of any tart fruit juice, such
as sour apple or crabapple, green grape,
rhubarb or pineapple. If the juice is
sufficiently acid but lacks only pectin,
jelly may be made by adding a pectin
extract made from apples or from lemon
or orange peel.
Quantity OF Pectin.
If the fruit Juice for making Jelly is
very rich in pectin, as much as three
fourths to one cupful Of sugar NAV be
used for each cupful of Juice. If the
juice is only fairly rich in pectin, use
only from one-half to three-fourths
cupful of sugar to each cupful of Juice,
More jelly is spoiled from the use of
too much sugar than too little. A soft
OF Sirupy jelly may be the result of
using more sugar than the pectin of
the juice requires or to insufficient cook
ing. Tough jelly may be due to the
use OF too small an amount of sugar
for the pectin present in the Juice.
The presence of crystals of sugar
may be due to the use of too much
sugar or to waiting too long before the
sugar was added to the juice, so that
the two were not cooked together long
enough. Add the sugar when the fruit
juice begins to boil. The scum should
be skinned off as 1t forms. After the
sugar is added to the fruit Juice it
should be cooked quickly. Rapid cook
ing give clear Jelly of tender tex
ture. When extracting the juice do
not squeeze the jelly bag, but allow the
Juice to drop from it. Best results are
obtained when only q few cupfuls of.
juice are boiled at one time. Dummy
Jelly may be caused by overcookint
Too long and too slow cooking tends
to destroy the jeilying power of the
pectin. Jelly should not be simmered.
Have all necessary utensils at hand
before beginning to cook the ielly and
see that the glasses are cleaned, steril-
lied and hot before the jelly is ready
to be poured into them. As soon as a
good jelly test is obServed-that is.
when the jelly sheets or fakes off the
sizes OF the Spoon-remove the Jelly
from the fire at once, skim and pour.
Nodded or fermented jelly may be due
TO not covering the Jelly well or not
having the paraffin hot enough to kill
mold spores and bacteria when 1t is
poured over the jelly.
Special Apple Jelly.
Wipe the apples, remove the stem
ana blossom ends and cut in quarters
Put into q granite or porcelain lined
preserving kettle and add enough cold
water to come nearly to the top of the
apples. Cover and cook slowly until
the apples are SOFT then mash and
drain through a coarse sieve. Avoid
squeezing the apples, which makes the
jelly cloudy. Then allow the Juice to
drip through a double thickness of
cheesecloth or jelly bag. Boil for 20
minutes and add three-fourths the
quantity OF heated sugar. Boil for five
minutes, skim, then turn into glasses.
Put in sunny window and let stand
for "a hours. Cover and keep in a cool,
dry place. Porter apples make deli
cious favored Jelly. II the apples are
pared, a much lighter jelly may be
made. Gravenstein apples make a very
spicy jelly. To heat the sugar, put it
In porcelain dish, place in the oven,
leaving the oven door ajar, and stir
occasionally
Most apple jelly is mild in flavor
Put a rose geranium leaf. which has
been dipped in boiling water, in the
bottom of the glass. A piece of green
ginger root or lemon cut up and added
to the apples while they are cooking
will add to the flavor. Mint Jelly may
be made by adding a handful of fresh
crushed mint leaves to the apples while
cooking, or mint extract may be added
to the Juice. Add . very little green
vegetable colorin1 IN the fiieA after