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Currant Jelly, Red
Red currant jelly may be made in the same way as black, remembering only that one pound of sugar will be required for one pint of juice. The flavour may be improved by the addition of a few raspberries, and both the flavour and colour if one pint of white currants is used with three of red. When straining the juice the fruit must not be pressed or the jelly will not be clear. Some prefer to sweeten red currant jelly by pounding loaf sugar very finely, and making it quite hot in the oven, taking care that it is not in the least discoloured; then mixing it with the juice, which, though hot, must not boil until the sugar is dissolved. Be careful to use either a silver or a wooden spoon in making jelly; with any other the flavour will be spoilt. The jelly may be made very stiff by adding half an ounce of isinglass to each pint of juice. The isinglass should be dissolved in a little of the juice, and put in with the sugar. Time, about two hours to express the juice. Probable cost of currants, 4d. per quart. Three pints of fruit will probably yield one pint of juice.
A method rather than a fixed formula, and it assumes you have already read the entry for black currant jelly: fruit heated gently with a little water until it bursts, then drained. The points below cover the parts that no longer translate directly.
- The ratio, in modern termsOne pound of sugar to one pint of juice, where the pint is the imperial 20 fl oz. That works out to roughly 450 g sugar per 570 ml juice, or about 1 lb sugar to 2 1/2 cups juice if you are using US measures. Getting this proportion right matters more than anything else here.
- Do not press the fruitThe instruction not to squeeze the pulp is the hinge of the whole recipe. Pressing forces fine solids through the cloth and gives a cloudy jelly. Let the bag drip for the two hours stated, or overnight, and accept the lower yield.
- Why silver or woodIron, tin and unlined copper react with fruit acids, dulling both colour and flavour; silver and wood do not. Stainless steel and modern enamel are equally inert and are the practical answer today.
- Loaf sugar, warmedLoaf sugar was refined sugar sold in a cone and broken up as needed. Ordinary granulated or preserving sugar is the substitute. Warming it in a low oven simply helps it dissolve before the pan comes to the boil, which is the point of the whole manoeuvre.
- IsinglassA gelatine made from the swim bladders of sturgeon and other fish. It is still sold, mainly to brewers, but red currants are among the most pectin-rich fruits there are and a correctly boiled jelly sets firmly without help. Treat the isinglass as optional period insurance rather than a necessary ingredient.
- Judging the setThe original gives no boiling time because cooks judged by eye. Boil hard after the sugar dissolves and test at 220F on a sugar thermometer, or use a chilled saucer. Overboiled currant jelly turns dark and tastes of caramel, so start testing early.
- Yield and jarsThree pints of fruit give about one pint of juice, which with the sugar makes roughly two half-pint jars. Pot into clean hot jars and seal at once; for storage outside the refrigerator, follow current guidance for processing high-acid preserves.
- White currants and raspberriesThe suggested pint of white currants to three of red lightens the colour toward a clear ruby and softens the acidity. A handful of raspberries, added with the currants before straining, is a traditional and worthwhile touch.
Red currant jelly earned its place in a Victorian household dictionary less as a preserve for the breakfast table than as a kitchen staple: it was the standard accompaniment to mutton, venison and hare, the base of Cumberland sauce, and a routine glaze and sweetener in sauces and sweet dishes. Currants grew readily in British gardens and were cheap enough to be within most households' reach, and their high pectin and acid content made them among the most reliable jelly fruits available in an age with no commercial pectin. The fussiness of the entry over spoons, unpressed pulp and undiscoloured sugar reflects what was being judged: a good jelly was expected to be brilliantly clear and bright in colour, and jelly-making is often said to have been one of the tests of a competent cook in the late nineteenth-century kitchen. The blending of white with red currants, and the addition of a few raspberries, are old garden tricks of the same era rather than any single cook's invention.