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Jelly Making and Recipes for Jelly

FRESH made jelly is better than jelly that has been kept for months. The fruit of which jelly is made is available at a season when one wishes to stay in the open air as many hours as possible. Then why not, as each fruit comes into season, simply make the juice ready for jelly and store it, boiling hot (without sugar), in glass jars (can it); then later in the season when jelly is desired, it may be made ready for the table in less than half an hour?

Stored in this way apple juice may be added to raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, cherry, or plum juice to make the more expensive juices go farther, and in some cases, as with strawberries and cherries, to improve the consistency of the jelly. The proportions of the juices combined might be varied to suit the circumstances. One third raspberry to two thirds apple juice gives a jelly of strong raspberry flavor.

It is thought by many that if fruit is stirred while cooking, it will not yield as clear a jelly as if it were left undisturbed at this time, but authorities differ on this point, and each jelly maker can decide this matter for herself.

Jelly made from dripped juice need not necessarily be clearer than that made from juice taken under pressure, especially if the latter be allowed to stand and settle before being made into jelly.

While it is unnecessary, a small measure of water, one cup to six quarts of fruit, may be added to grapes or berries as an aid in extracting the juice. Water enough barely to cover is a necessity when dealing with firm fruit like apples, crab apples, and quinces. It used to be thought that currants did not yield as perfect jelly if gathered just after a rain, yet clear, handsome jelly may be made of the second and third "extractions" from currants; that is, from currant pulp cooked in water.

But part of the fruit-juice drips through the bag; formerly the rest of the juice was secured by pressing the bag. To-day several "extractions" are made. After the bag has been left to drip half an hour, transfer the pulp to a saucepan, add water to cover, and stir until thoroughly mixed throughout, then cover and let heat slowly to the boiling point and drain as before. This product is known as "extraction 2" and will make a good jelly. It may not be as clear nor the flavor quite as high as jelly made from the first extraction, though it is often difficult to distinguish between the two. Often several extractions are made, and all the liquid, except the first extraction, mixed together is made into jelly. By rapid boiling, these later extractions may be reduced so that the product may be handled as the first extraction.

When apples are plenty, apple juice may be used as the liquid in which to cook the pulp of choice fruit after the first extraction.

When water is used, the flavor is less than at the first extraction, the quantity of pectin present is probably below the normal, and the proportion of sugar must be lessened. Pectin and sugar must be proportioned accurately, if the best results are to be obtained.

The cleaner the fruit (the freer it is of stems, leaves, etc.) the brighter and clearer will be the jelly.

Jelly is brighter and more choice when the addition of the sugar is delayed until the water has evaporated, so that the liquid jellies by the time the sugar is dissolved; then, as a corollary :

Heating the sugar in the oven will improve the jelly.

Honey may replace sugar in whole or part in jelly making.

Always bring the juice for jelly to the boiling point quickly (over a quick fire) then let boil moderately from ten to twenty minutes, according to the water in composition or that added. Add the sugar, made hot in pans in the oven, stir, and let boil from one to five minutes. Or cook until the boiling product "jells" as it drops from the spoon. If previous directions in regard to water have been followed, no jelly need be boiled longer than five minutes after the addition of the sugar, and in most cases the jelly is ready when the liquid reboils after the sugar has been added.

Skim while the juice is boiling and again after the sugar is added, and straining into the glasses, - a wasteful process, - is unnecessary.

Jelly should always be made in small quantities. If two quarts of juice is to be used, set it -- to cook in two saucepans. Long cooking darkens the product. If jelly or marmalade poured into glasses does not seem firm enough, set the glasses in the sun, cover them with a pane of window glass or glass lids from fruit jars for two or three days.

A jelly "to stand alone" should lack sugar rather than contain an excess of it. Too large a proportion of sugar makes soft jelly.

Crystals sometimes seen in jelly, particularly that from grapes or blueberries, indicates too much sugar or too long cooking before the addition of the sugar. The white inner skin of oranges and lemons contains pectin, and may be added to cherries, strawberries, rhubarb, or other fruit with low pectin content to produce jelly.

Currants, partially ripened grapes, sour apples, and plums are among the fruits most easily made into jelly. The pectin content in each of these fruits is large, but this is not all; each fruit is of an acid nature, and acid is a prime essential to a perfect jelly. Less acid fruits, rich in pectin, may be combined with any of these acid fruits to give jelly of good consistency and of varied flavor. Lemon juice may be added advantageously to quince, strawberry, peach, or pear juice to be made into jelly.