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Green Grape Jelly

Wild grapes give the best jelly; pick the fruit just as it begins to change color. Free the grapes of stems and leaves, put them over a slow fire to heat gradually, cover the pan and shake the saucepan occasionally until the fruit boils, then let simmer about half an hour. Turn into a bag and let drain; when cool enough, loosen the contents of the bag that all the juice may drip from it; press the last of the juice from the bag, or make several "extractions" from the pulp. Measure the juice; take as many cups of sugar as cups of juice, set the sugar on agate plates into the oven, not too hot, → and stir often while it is heating. Let the juice boil twenty minutes; add the hot sugar and stir until it is dissolved. Have the jelly glasses, filled with hot water, in a pan of hot water, a folded cloth beneath them; empty the water from the glasses and ladle the hot jelly into them. Remove to a board. When cold, cover with a small round of paper, dipped in brandy, - this may be omitted, - and finish with rounds of paper that cover the top of the glass completely. Mint leaves are often cooked with the juice of green grapes to secure mint jelly. A little color paste is needed to get an attractive color.