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Plain Gelatine
Soak one box gelatine in three-fourths pint of cold water till dissolved, when add one quart boiling water, the juice of three lemons (or other fruit juice) and sugar to taste (about two cups will make this moderately sweet). Let cool, then set on ice to harden. In hot weather reduce somewhat the quantity of water used. Or use three pints fruit juice (no water) to one box of gelatine, soaking it in part of the juice. Proceed as above. "SPONGE" A "sponge" may be made by the addition of whipped white of egg to plain gelatine (as above).
This is a base formula for a molded fruit jelly rather than a finished dessert, which is why it sits among the introductory recipes. Two things need translating: the box of gelatine and the fruit juices that will refuse to set.
- One box of gelatineA box of granulated gelatine in this period generally held about 1 ounce, commonly divided into four quarter-ounce (7 g) portions, close in size to a modern envelope. That is a firm set, stiff enough to turn out of a mold, for the 5 to 6 cups of liquid here, which is what the recipe intends.
- The liquid measuresThree-fourths pint is 1½ cups; a quart is 4 cups. With the juice of three lemons (about ⅓ to ½ cup) you finish near 6 cups of liquid, or eight generous servings.
- Soaking, then dissolvingThe cold-water soak is blooming: let the granules stand 5 to 10 minutes until they swell and go translucent before the boiling water goes in. Stir until no grains remain on the spoon, and do not return the mixture to a boil afterward, which weakens the set.
- Fruit juices that will not gelThe all-juice version works with citrus, grape, apple, cranberry and berry juices. Fresh pineapple, kiwi, papaya, mango, figs and fresh ginger carry proteases that digest gelatine and leave a syrup; canned or heat-pasteurized versions of those juices are fine, as the enzymes are destroyed by heat.
- "Set on ice" and hot weatherA refrigerator at 40F does what the icebox did. Allow at least 4 hours, or overnight for a jelly meant to be turned out of a mold. The instruction to reduce the water in hot weather is a hedge against a warm larder; with modern refrigeration it is unnecessary.
- SugarTwo cups is "moderately sweet" by the standards of the period and reads as very sweet now. Start with one cup, taste the warm liquid, and adjust; at this proportion sugar has little effect on whether the jelly sets.
- The "sponge" variationWhipped raw egg white beaten into cooling gelatine is never heated at any point. If you make it, use pasteurized whites; the aerated jelly must be folded in when the base is thickened to raw-egg-white consistency, or the foam floats and sets as a separate layer.
"Plain gelatine" reads like a blank slate because it is one: by the time this book appeared, purified granulated gelatine sold in small paper boxes had replaced the day-long labor of boiling calves' feet or shredding isinglass to make jelly, and a cook could set anything liquid without first making stock of it. That shift is what put jellied fruit desserts within reach of ordinary households rather than establishments with a staff, and it explains the placement here among introductory recipes. The "sponge" appendix belongs to an older vocabulary of jelly cookery, in which the same base was served clear, whipped to a snow with egg white, or beaten with cream to make a fluff, each with its own name on the menu.