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Pineapple Marmalade
Use perfectly ripe, sweet pines, slice and pare, then cut. into small pieces. Allow three-fourths pound of sugar to each pound of fruit, mix in granite or porcelain bowl, and let stand over night in cool place (preferably on ice). In the morning remove from ice and cook gently for an hour. At the end of this time press through a fruit-crusher or coarse sieve with potato masher. Replace on stove and cook half an hour longer, until clear and golden in colour and it curls stiffly and gently when finger is thrust through it, then place in little pots.
A straightforward sugar-and-fruit preserve with no added pectin or acid, so the set depends entirely on long cooking and the doneness test at the end. Everything hinges on that test.
- The doneness test"curls stiffly and gently when finger is thrust through it" appears to describe drawing a finger through a little of the marmalade to see whether the edges hold and wrinkle rather than flood back; the recipe does not say on what surface. Test off the heat, on a cold saucer if you like, and judge by the test rather than by the clock.
- Granite and porcelain"Granite" means granite-ware, the speckled enamel over steel common in period kitchens. The point is a non-reactive surface; enamel, stainless steel or glass all work, and bare aluminium or unlined copper should be avoided with fruit this acidic.
- Sugar ratioThree-quarters pound of sugar to each pound of prepared fruit is about 1 3/4 cups sugar per pound. Weigh the pineapple after peeling and coring, not before.
- "Pines" and coringPines is simply pineapple. The recipe says slice and pare but not core; cut out the fibrous centre, which never softens and will clog the sieve.
- Overnight on iceThe point of standing overnight is maceration, drawing juice out of the fruit before heat is applied. The refrigerator does this; there is no need for a cool larder or actual ice.
- Fruit-crusherA period fruit press. A coarse sieve worked with a wooden spoon, a food mill, or a few short pulses of a stick blender gives the same slightly rough purée. Avoid reducing it to a smooth liquid, which changes the texture the recipe is after.
- Yield and pottingThe recipe does not say how the filled pots were sealed. For shelf storage use current water-bath canning directions for a fruit jam, or simply refrigerate the filled jars and use within a month.
Pineapple was the luxury fruit of the nineteenth-century preserving book — grown under glass in Britain, shipped from the Caribbean and, as rail and steamer routes improved, arriving in quantity from Florida and then Hawaii. A recipe like this one insists on "perfectly ripe, sweet pines" rather than treating them as a rarity to be stretched. Marmalade here carries its older, broader sense: the word comes through French and Portuguese from marmelo, quince, and originally meant a stiff quince paste, only narrowing to citrus-and-peel in British usage. In books of this period any fruit cooked to a thick, pressed, spreadable mass could be called a marmalade, which is exactly what the sieving step in the middle of this recipe produces.