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Waverly Jam
Seven pounds grapes after they are stemmed, three and onehalf pounds sugar, one pound raisins, three oranges (rind and juice); heat the grapes so the seeds will come out, put them through the colander to get the juice and pulp, add the skins, sugar, raisins (whole) and oranges, and cook until thick.
— Miss Josephine Castle
— Miss Leah Timmerman
A slip-skin grape jam of the sort made every September in the Hudson Valley, written for a cook who already knew what "cook until thick" looked like. The quantities are generous by modern standards and the method depends entirely on the grape being the right kind.
- The grape matters mostThis only works with a slip-skin American grape; Concord is the likeliest candidate, but Catawba, Isabella or Niagara would behave the same way. The instruction to heat the grapes so the seeds come out assumes pulp that separates cleanly from the skin; a European table grape will not behave this way and there is nothing to strain.
- How the separation actually worksHow the separation works -- As written, the whole grapes are heated and then worked through the colander, which holds back the skins and seeds while the pulp and juice pass through; the skins are then returned to the pot, and they supply most of the color. Slipping the raw skins off before heating the pulp is a common alternative, but it is not what this receipt describes.
- "Put them through the colander"The sense is pushing the softened fruit through a perforated colander or sieve with a spoon or pestle so that skins and seeds are held back, rather than simply draining. A food mill fitted with the fine plate does the job in a minute; a fine-mesh sieve and a stiff spatula also work.
- Scaling downSeven pounds of stemmed grapes is a large batch for one pot. Halve or quarter it and keep the ratios: roughly 1 part sugar by weight to 2 parts grapes, plus about 2 oz raisins and half an orange per pound of grapes.
- The orangesRind and juice both go in. Use the zest or very thinly pared peel rather than the whole thick pith, which turns bitter over a long boil, and add the juice with the sugar.
- "Cook until thick"Concord grapes are high in pectin and acid and will set on their own. Expect 45 minutes to an hour of open boiling with frequent stirring; the jam is done at about 220F, or when a spoonful chilled on a cold plate wrinkles when pushed. Stir down to the bottom throughout, as the sugar and raisins scorch readily.
- Sugar and keepingAt half the weight of the fruit, this is a lower-sugar jam than most commercial preserves. It will be soft-set and it will not keep indefinitely at room temperature. Refrigerate or freeze it, or process the filled jars by a current tested water-bath method, which this receipt does not supply.
- YieldThe full batch gives roughly ten to twelve cups, depending on how far it is reduced.
Village receipt collections like this one were often compiled as fundraising books, and the double attribution here to two women suggests a recipe passed between neighbors before it reached print. The name most likely points to a local place or family rather than any established preserve; Waverly was a common village and street name in New York State. The dish itself belongs to the Concord grape economy, where the variety was widely grown after its mid-nineteenth-century introduction and where surplus fruit went into jelly, unfermented juice and jams of exactly this kind. The raisins and orange are the marks of a slightly grander preserve than plain grape jam: dried fruit and citrus were bought goods, added to a crop that cost the household nothing but labor.