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Raspberry and Currant Jam
Take freshly gathered dry fruit, and put a quarter of a pound of raspberries with each pound of red currants. Place the fruit in a perfectly clean preserving-pan, with three-quarters of its weight in sugar in small lumps. Stir it occasionally until it boils, skim carefully, and boil gently for three-quarters of an hour. Turn it into jars, and cover in the usual way. Store in a dry airy place. Time to boil, three-quarters of an hour from the time the jam boils.
A straightforward two-fruit preserve that relies on the currants for pectin and acid. The only real decision the modern cook has to make is when to stop boiling.
- The proportionsFour ounces of raspberries to every pound of red currants, and sugar equal to three-quarters of the combined fruit weight. So 4 lb currants and 1 lb raspberries take 3 lb 12 oz sugar.
- Boil to a set, not to the clockThree-quarters of an hour suits a heavy preserving pan on a slow solid-fuel range; on modern gas or induction a batch this size may well reach setting point sooner. Work to 220F/105C on a sugar thermometer, or the cold-saucer wrinkle test, rather than the stated time.
- Why the low sugar works hereThree-quarters sugar to fruit is lean by modern standards, where 1:1 is usual. Red currants are exceptionally high in pectin and acid, so the jam sets readily, but the lower sugar means a shorter keeping life once opened. Refrigerate after opening.
- Lump sugarLump or loaf sugar was the most highly refined grade then available, and small lumps were the usual form for preserving. Ordinary granulated or preserving sugar is fine; warming it before it goes in the pan helps it dissolve before the fruit boils.
- Currants need no topping and tailingStrip them from the stalks with a fork. Leave them whole; the skins and seeds contribute much of the pectin, which is why this jam needs no added setting agent.
- "Cover in the usual way"Victorian practice generally meant a paper cover, often brandy-dipped, laid over the surface of the hot jam and a second cover tied down over the top. Modern equivalent: hot sterilised jars, filled to within a quarter inch, and a two-piece lid; a 10-minute water bath if you want them reliably shelf-stable.
- StorageA "dry airy place" meant a cool larder. Any dark cupboard away from the stove will do; light fades the colour badly within a few months.
Raspberry and red currant were paired in British preserving long before either fruit was much grown commercially, and for a practical reason: raspberries have plenty of flavour and very little pectin, while red currants have modest flavour and a great deal of it. The combination sets firmly without the boiled apple juice that other soft-fruit jams needed. Both fruits ripen in the same few weeks of English midsummer, which is why the recipe insists on freshly gathered dry fruit " berries picked after rain carry surface water that dilutes the sugar and slows the set. The preserving pan itself mattered: the recipe calls for a "perfectly clean preserving-pan".