Prune Jelly
Wash 1 cupful of large prunes and soak in water over night or until swollen. Put into a double boiler and cook until tender, skim them out and let stand until cool enough to handle, then pit and cut them in quarters. In the meantime strain the juice and measure, adding water, if needed, to make ½ pint. Soak 1/4 cupful of granulated gelatine in 4 tablespoonfuls of cold water. Boil together the prune juice and 1 cupful of sugar for five minutes. Add the soaked gelatine and stir until dissolved. Set aside and when cool add 1 teaspoonful of vanilla. Arrange the cut prunes in a wetted mold, over them pour the syrup mixture and set away until stiffened.
Turn out and serve with plain or whipped cream.
A wartime-economy gelatine dessert that works well, with one number that needs rethinking: the gelatine.
- The gelatine is the hingeA quarter cup of powdered gelatine is roughly five envelopes, far more than half a pint of liquid needs and enough to set it into rubber. Whatever the reason for the original figure, treat it as unusable and work from a modern ratio instead — about one envelope (2¼ tsp) per cup of liquid for a mould firm enough to turn out.
- Blooming waterFour tablespoons of cold water will not hydrate that much gelatine. Whatever quantity you settle on, allow roughly four to five times its volume in cold water and let it stand five minutes until it swells and goes opaque before it meets the hot syrup.
- Prunes have changedDried plums today are sold moist-pack and partially rehydrated. The overnight soak can be shortened to an hour, or skipped if you simmer them a little longer.
- Skip the double boilerA double boiler gives gentle, indirect heat that keeps fruit from scorching. A covered saucepan over low heat, 20 to 30 minutes, does the same job faster.
- Juice and sugarA cup of sugar to half a pint of prune liquid is a heavy syrup by current taste. Half that amount still sets and still tastes of fruit; the sugar is for flavour here, not structure.
- Boil the syrup before the gelatine goes inThe five-minute boil is for the juice and sugar alone. Adding gelatine to actively boiling liquid weakens the set — take the pan off the heat, then stir it in until fully dissolved with no visible grains.
- Vanilla lastAdding it once the mixture has cooled is deliberate: the alcohol carrier flashes off in a hot syrup and the flavour goes flat.
- UnmouldingWetting the mould, as directed, is what lets the jelly release. Dip the filled mould briefly in warm water to the rim, then invert onto a wetted plate so the jelly can be slid into position.
- YieldAbout a pint of jelly — four modest servings, or six in small cups.
Prunes were the cheap fruit of the early twentieth century: they kept indefinitely without ice, travelled by rail from California in bulk, and cost a fraction of fresh or canned fruit, which is exactly why they turn up so often in economy cookery of the period. Packaged granulated gelatine had by then replaced a laborious kitchen operation — simmering calves' feet or trimmings for hours — with a boxed product any household could buy, and moulded jellies were a common way to make a small quantity of cheap fruit look like a dinner-party dessert.