Melon Mousse
Stew Place the pulp of nutmeg, canteloupe, or muskmelon in preserving kettle with half the quantity of sugar. down till rather thick; rub through sieve and replace on stove. Have dissolved a half box of gelatine (for each pint of pulp) first softened in a little cold water, then more thoroughly dissolved by pouring on it a half-pint of boiling water and placing over steam. Add this to the cooked melon, stirring until it begins to cool and thicken, when place in wetted moulds; set on ice till firm and serve with (Less gelatine may be used if preferred.) cream.
MELON MARMALADE (Old-fashioned Recipe) Take large citron melons, quarter, and remove seeds. Weigh, and to every pound of melon allow a pound of loaf sugar (double refined). To every three pounds of melons allow two lemons and a teaspoonful of ground white ginger. Grate the melon on coarse grater, not too close to rind. Grate off also the yellow rind of the lemons and add with the ginger to the sugar. Mix all the ingredients in a preserving kettle. Set it over a moderate fire, boil, skim, and stir until it is a very thick, smooth jam. Put it warm into glasses; lay a double round of tissue paper on the surface and seal the jars.
SMALL MELON PICKLES (Old Recipe) Select muskmelons the size of black walnuts; prick well and place for three days in brine, when freshen and pour over them hot spiced vinegar.
RIPE MUSKMELON PICKLES (Mrs. Haskell) With all melon pickles use about one teaspoon alum to harden four pounds of melon. Take hard muskmelons after they are sufficiently ripe to develop flavour, and slice lengthwise; scrape out seeds and lay melon in salt over night. Wash and wipe dry, then put in alum water one hour; wash and wipe dry again, cut in slices, and pack in glass jars. Pour over them a syrup of vinegar with spices, and set in a boiler of cold water. Heat gradually to boiling; remove the bottles and cork as soon as cold. The melons may be peeled or cut in rings if preferred.
The page runs four melon recipes together, and the first one has been scrambled by the typesetter. The mousse is a straightforward gelatine dessert; the three preserving recipes that follow it are the reason for the caution above.
- Read the first line in the right orderThe opening sentence has been jumbled in setting. It should read: "Place the pulp of nutmeg, canteloupe, or muskmelon in preserving kettle with half the quantity of sugar. Stew down till rather thick." The last words, "and serve with cream," have likewise been split apart.
- Half the quantity of sugarThe recipe does not say whether this is by weight or by measure; taken as weight it works out at about 1 lb sugar to 2 lb prepared pulp. That is a high proportion by modern taste, and reducing it will not stop the mousse setting, since the gelatine does that work.
- A box of gelatineAround 1900 a box of granulated gelatine commonly held about an ounce divided into papers or envelopes, though sizes varied by maker; on that reckoning half a box is roughly 1/2 oz, or about two modern envelopes, per pint of pulp. That gives a firm, sliceable mould of the kind meant to be turned out; one envelope per pint gives a softer set, which is probably what the closing note about less gelatine is pointing at.
- Bloom, then dissolveThe two-stage method is exactly right and still standard: soften in a few tablespoons of cold water until swollen, then add the half-pint of boiling water and warm over steam until perfectly clear. Do not boil gelatine.
- The hinge: stir until it begins to thickenMelon pulp is watery and the sweetened purée is heavier than the liquid gelatine. If you pour it into the mould while thin, it separates into layers. Stir over cold water until it mounds slightly on the spoon, then mould.
- Not really a mousseThere is no whipped cream or beaten white in it; by modern naming this is a melon jelly or fruit gelée, served with cream poured round. A pint of pulp fills a 3-cup mould and serves four to six.
- Nutmeg melon and citron melon"Nutmeg melon" is an old name for a small netted muskmelon. "Citron melon" in the marmalade is not citrus at all but the hard white preserving melon, sometimes sold as citron or pie melon, still grown for candying; it is unpalatable raw and has almost no flavour of its own, which is why the recipe leans on lemon and ginger.
- Why the preserving recipes failThe pickles depend on alum as a crisping agent, at a teaspoon to four pounds of melon; it is no longer recommended for this purpose. More seriously, none of the three preserves gives a measured brine or vinegar strength, an acidity, a jar temperature or a processing time: the small pickles are simply brined three days and covered with hot vinegar, the marmalade is sealed under tissue paper, and Mrs. Haskell's jars are heated in cold water "gradually to boiling" and corked. Melon is a low-acid fruit, and unmeasured acidification with a sealed jar carries a botulism risk; tissue-paper sealing invites mould instead. Use a current tested recipe for melon pickles or preserves.
Moulded fruit jellies like this one belonged to the era when commercially packaged granulated gelatine, sold in boxes of papers, put a jellied dessert within reach of any household with an icebox; before that, cooks worked with sheet and shred gelatine, or boiled calf's feet or isinglass for their own stock. The melon section here suggests, though the page does not spell it out, how American kitchens may have handled a crop that ripens all at once and keeps badly: the perfect fruit to the table, the surplus into moulds and marmalade, and the small unripe fruit and the hard white citron melon, useless for eating out of hand, into the pickle crock. Alum was a standard grocer's item for keeping pickled fruit and vegetables crisp, and "loaf sugar, double refined" points to a time when sugar was still bought as a cone or loaf and broken down at home, with refinement grades that mattered to the clarity of a preserve.