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Rhubarb Jam
Rhubarb jam is most wholesome and useful, but it will not keep for a great length of time like other preserved fruits. Peel the rhubarb, and cut it up into short lengths. Weigh it, and with each pound of fruit put one pound of sugar, the rind of half a small lemon, finely chopped, and a quarter of an ounce of bitter almonds, blanched and chopped. Bring the fruit slowly to the boil, stir constantly, and skim carefully, then boil it rather quickly until it will set when a little is put upon a plate. Put it into jars, and when it is cold, tie these down in the usual way. If liked, the almonds may be omitted, and the juice of the lemon may be added to the fruit. Time to boil young rhubarb, about three-quarters of an hour. Old rhubarb, one hour to one hour and a half, counting from the time the jam simmers equally all over. Probable cost, 6d. to 8d. per pound.
The problem here is the quarter-ounce of bitter almonds, which is not a flavouring that can be bought or used safely today. The rest of the method is a plain equal-weight preserve, and the notes below explain the period vocabulary and where the instructions diverge from current practice.
- Bitter almondsBitter almonds contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide when the nut is crushed, chopped or wetted — exactly what this recipe directs. Sale of the raw nut is prohibited or restricted in a number of countries for that reason, and a quarter of an ounce chopped into a small batch of jam is not a trace quantity. Blanching does not remove the amygdalin.
- Not the same as almond extractModern almond essence is generally benzaldehyde, and commercial marzipan is made from sweet almonds; natural bitter almond oil is sold only in a form from which the prussic acid has been removed. None of these is the flavouring the historical recipe was written around, and this page is not the place for a reworked version; use a current rhubarb jam recipe.
- The original's own variantCassell's notes that "the almonds may be omitted" in favour of lemon juice, which tells you the flavouring was regarded as optional even at the time of writing.
- Weights and moneyA quarter of an ounce is about 7 g. "6d. to 8d. per pound" is six to eight old pence — a costing note for a household keeping accounts, not an instruction.
- Equal weights of fruit and sugarPound for pound was the standard preserving ratio, and the sugar is doing the preserving as much as the sweetening. Rhubarb is acid but low in pectin, which gives a soft set; the book warns separately that the jam "will not keep for a great length of time," without saying why.
- Boiling timesThree-quarters of an hour to an hour and a half is far longer than a modern jam is boiled. The plate test the recipe describes is essentially the same setting test still used.
- "Tie these down in the usual way"This usually meant a disc of waxed paper on the surface and a paper or cloth cover tied over the rim with string — a dust cover rather than a vacuum seal.
Rhubarb was a latecomer to the English dessert table: grown from the seventeenth century as a medicinal root, it was only widely eaten as a fruit from the early nineteenth, once cheap sugar made its sourness manageable. By the time Cassell's dictionary appeared it was the first "fruit" of the year, forced under pots in Yorkshire and cheap enough to preserve in quantity, which is why a household manual costs it out by the pound. Almond flavouring in rhubarb dishes was conventional, and Victorian cookery books call for the nuts freely in custards, ratafias and preserves, in an era before the cyanogenic chemistry was regulated. The warning that the jam will not keep is honest and characteristic of the book: a preserve meant to be eaten within the year.