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Raisin and Cranberry Jam
1 cup large raisins, seeded I quart cranberries 2½ cups sugar 1 quart cold water Cook the raisins in the water until the water is reduced one half, add the cranberries and sugar, and let simmer until thick.
A short, forgiving preserve: cranberries bring enough pectin and acid to set on their own, so the only real judgment call is when to stop cooking.
- "Seeded" raisinsAt the time this meant large muscatel raisins with the seeds picked out, a tedious job done at home or bought already done. Modern seedless raisins need no preparation; one cup is roughly 5 oz.
- Reducing the waterA quart of water down to a pint takes roughly 20-30 minutes at a lively simmer in a wide pan. The point is to plump the raisins and build a raisin-flavored syrup before the fruit goes in.
- Judging "until thick"Expect 15-25 minutes after the cranberries go in. The berries will burst and the mixture will drop from a spoon in a sheet rather than in drops; on a thermometer that is about 220F at sea level.
- Stir near the endAs it thickens, the raisins sink and scorch easily. Keep the heat moderate and stir the bottom of the pan once the mixture starts to mound.
- YieldThe recipe gives none; expect roughly 3 to 4 cups, or three to four half-pint jars.
- Keeping itThe recipe says nothing about storage or sealing. Treat it as a refrigerator jam good for about a month, or process filled half-pints in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude.
Cranberry sauce was a New England staple long before this book, but pairing the berries with raisins was a way of stretching an intensely sour native fruit with something sweet, cheap and shelf-stable. Imported raisins were among the dried fruits available to American cooks, and they offered an easy way to soften the acidity of cranberries. The recipe comes from a period when putting up autumn fruit was a household calculation rather than a hobby: cranberries kept well in a cold cellar, but turned into jam they lasted all winter and stretched further at the table.