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Carrot Marmalade
Wash and boil until tender four pounds of young carrots, drain and peel, then press them through a colander, put them into a porcelain-lined kettle with two pounds of sugar and a pint of water, add a few pieces of chipped lemon peel, the grated yellow rind of two oranges, a small piece of ginger root cut into pieces and two bay leaves; simmer gently until the proper consistency and put away in tumblers.
A straightforward vegetable preserve, but two things in it will trip up a modern cook: the vagueness of "the proper consistency" and the assumption that the finished jars will keep on a shelf. They will not.
- Keeping itCarrots are low in acid and this recipe uses only half a pound of sugar per pound of vegetable, which is well below the concentration that makes a jam self-preserving. Treat the result as a fresh refrigerator conserve, eat it within two or three weeks, and do not seal it for pantry storage as the original directs.
- Porcelain-lined kettleAny nonreactive pan will do: enameled cast iron or heavy stainless. The instruction exists because copper and bare iron discolor citrus and fruit preserves and give them a metallic edge.
- Pressing through a colanderThis means forcing the cooked carrots through the holes to make a coarse puree; a food mill or ricer does the same work in a fraction of the time. A blender gives a smoother, more paste-like texture than the original intends.
- Chipped lemon peelMost likely peel pared off in thin strips or small chips with little white pith, in a small quantity. The recipe says nothing about removing anything, but the bay leaves, ginger and peel strips are easily fished out before potting if you would rather not meet them in the jar.
- Consistency and timeExpect 40 to 60 minutes of gentle simmering. A thick puree scorches easily, so stir often and finish when a spoonful dragged across the pan floor leaves a track that closes slowly. It sets up noticeably firmer once cold.
- TumblersDrinking glasses, a common nineteenth-century jelly vessel, often sealed with a paraffin disc and paper. Use small screw-top jars instead and keep them cold.
- YieldAbout five cups from four pounds of carrots, depending on how far the mixture is reduced.
Carrot preserves belong to a long tradition of stretching or replacing expensive fruit and sugar with a cheap sweet root. Carrots are among the sugariest of common vegetables, and cooks in Britain and northern Europe had used them in puddings and tarts, and in "mock" apricot or lemon marmalades best attested in the nineteenth century, when citrus was costly and imported preserves were a luxury. The heavy aromatics here, lemon and orange rind, ginger and bay, do the work of making a root taste like fruit, and the color helps the illusion.