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Currant Conserve
6 oranges (wash well and chop fine) 6 oranges (wash well and chop 1½ lbs. seeded raisins (chopped) 4 qts. fresh currants (do not grind) 5½ lbs. granulated sugar Chop oranges. Add raisins and sugar. Let stand, while preparing currants. Mix all together and cook until it thickens. Watch closely to keep from sticking to pan. 3 lbs. peaches
A classic three-fruit conserve: whole chopped oranges, raisins and sugar macerated together, then cooked down with fresh currants until it sets. The only real skill is judging the finish and keeping the bottom of the pan from scorching.
- Use the whole orange"Wash well and chop fine" means peel, pith and all, which is where the pectin and the bitterness both live. A food processor pulsed a few times works; slice the oranges thin first so no long strips of peel survive.
- Why the currants are not groundThe book says only "do not grind," without explaining. Left whole, the currants burst in the pan and give a looser, less uniform texture than ground fruit would.
- Quantities in modern terms4 quarts of fresh currants is roughly 4 to 5 lb by weight, so the batch is large: with 5½ lb of sugar in it, expect roughly 10 lb of finished conserve, which will fill a dozen or more half-pint jars. Halve everything if your largest pot is under 8 quarts.
- The maceration step mattersLetting the chopped oranges, raisins and sugar stand together draws juice out and dissolves much of the sugar before heat is applied, which shortens the boil and keeps the colour bright.
- Judging "until it thickens"A currant conserve sets at about 220F (104C) at sea level, or when a spoonful chilled on a cold plate wrinkles when pushed. Timing depends heavily on pan and batch size, and a batch this large may need well over half an hour of steady boiling.
- ScorchingWith this much sugar and dried fruit, the raisins sink and catch. Use a wide heavy-bottomed pan, stir down to the base with a flat-edged wooden spatula, and keep the heat at a rolling rather than a furious boil.
- StorageThe book gives no processing instructions. Treat it as a refrigerator preserve, good for a month or two, unless you follow current water-bath canning guidance for jams from a tested source.
- Sourcing currantsFresh red currants are a short summer crop and rarely stocked in supermarkets; look to farmers' markets in July or use frozen, thawed and drained of nothing (keep the juice).
A "conserve" in American cookbooks of this era meant a jam enriched with something beyond the base fruit uts, raisins and citrus most often as distinct from a plain jelly or a spiced pickle. Currants earned their place in church and community cookbooks because they are heavily pectinated, ripen all at once, and were a fixture of Midwestern kitchen gardens: a bush or two along a fence would give more fruit than any family could eat fresh. Home currant growing later fell off sharply in much of the United States after state bans aimed at white pine blister rust, for which Ribes bushes are an alternate host, which is one reason a recipe calling casually for four quarts of fresh currants now reads as more exotic than it was to the women who contributed it.