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Chocolate Jelly with Crystallized Green Gages
Dissolve in a quart of water three tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate; let come to a boil; simmer ten minutes; add a cup of sugar and a box of gelatine (that has been softened in a cup of water) and strain through a jelly bag or two thicknesses of cheese-cloth. When almost cold, add a dessert spoonful of vanilla and a tablespoonful of brandy. Then whisk well; add half a pound of crystallized green gages cut into small pieces; pour into a pretty mould, and when cold serve with whipped cream.
A Victorian moulded chocolate jelly, set firm enough to turn out and studded with candied plums. Two details govern the result: the strength of the gelatine and the point at which you whisk.
- "A box of gelatine"Household boxes of the period held about an ounce of granulated gelatine, roughly four modern quarter-ounce envelopes, which is what a quart of liquid needs to unmould cleanly. Softening it in a cup of cold water first is essential; that cup counts toward the total liquid.
- Grated chocolateThis means unsweetened block chocolate of the sort Walter Baker sold, not cocoa powder and not modern semi-sweet. Three tablespoons grated is about an ounce; the cup of sugar is the only sweetening.
- Do not boil after the gelatine goes inThe chocolate and water are boiled and simmered on their own. Once the softened gelatine is stirred in, the mixture should be hot but off the heat -- prolonged boiling weakens the set.
- Strain while hotThe jelly bag or doubled cheesecloth catches undissolved chocolate grounds and any gelatine lumps, and it will only pass freely while the mixture is thin and warm.
- A dessertspoonfulTwo teaspoons in American measure, midway between a teaspoon and a tablespoon. The brandy is a flavouring here rather than a preservative and can be left out without affecting the set.
- "When almost cold, whisk well"The point is to catch the jelly at the syrupy stage, just before it sets, so whisking aerates it slightly and, more importantly, holds the fruit in suspension instead of letting it sink to what will become the top of the turned-out mould.
- Crystallized green gagesCandied greengage plums, sold whole in confectioners' boxes and now hard to find outside specialist suppliers. Candied apricots, glace plums or good mixed candied fruit stand in; half a pound is a generous quantity for a quart mould.
- Setting and servingRinse the mould with cold water before filling. Allow at least four hours in the refrigerator, longer for a deep mould, and dip briefly in warm water to release. A quart mould serves six to eight with whipped cream.
Walter Baker & Co. of Dorchester, Massachusetts, issued small recipe booklets like this one as advertising, filling them with contributions from the professional cooking writers of the day -- Janet McKenzie Hill, editor of the Boston Cooking School Magazine, appears repeatedly. Moulded jellies were the showpiece of the turn-of-the-century dessert table, made practical by commercially granulated gelatine, which replaced the long labour of boiling down calves' feet and put a turned-out mould within reach of an ordinary household. The greengage is a green-fleshed dessert plum, the French Reine Claude; the English name is traditionally traced to Sir William Gage, who is said to have introduced the tree to England in the eighteenth century. Crystallized in sugar syrup, the fruit kept its colour, pale green against the dark chocolate jelly.