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Orange Jelly
Make the same as Grape Fruit Jelly, substituting orange for grape juice.
A one-line variation that sends you back to the grapefruit jelly for everything that matters. Note the wording: the heading says grape fruit (two words, meaning grapefruit) while the instruction says "grape juice" — in books of this period the two were written loosely, and the base recipe is the one to follow.
- Read the parent recipe firstNo quantities, no gelatin, no sugar and no timing appear here. Every proportion comes from the grapefruit jelly entry, and this line changes only the juice.
- Gelatin proportionsIf the base recipe is unavailable, a modern working guideline for a moulded fruit jelly is about one envelope of granulated gelatin (2 1/4 teaspoons) to two cups of liquid, softened in a few tablespoons of cold water and dissolved in hot liquid; period books often gave the dose as a fraction of a box instead. Use slightly less for a jelly meant to be spooned from glasses rather than turned out.
- Juice and sugarOrange juice is generally sweeter and less sharp than grapefruit, so the sugar called for in the parent recipe may be more than you want. Taste the warm mixture before chilling, remembering that cold blunts sweetness.
- Strain the juicePulp and membrane cloud the jelly and settle in a layer at the bottom of the mould. Strain through a fine sieve or cheesecloth for a clear set.
- Do not boil the gelatinBring the sweetened liquid only to a bare simmer to dissolve the sugar, then stir in the softened gelatin off the heat. Boiling weakens the set and drives off the fresh orange aroma that is the whole point of the substitution.
- Setting timeFour hours in the refrigerator for individual glasses, six to eight for a full mould. Chilling in an icebox or cold larder would have been slower and less predictable.
- UnmouldingDip the mould in warm — not hot — water for five seconds, loosen the edge with a finger, and invert onto a wetted plate so the jelly can be slid into position.
- YieldIf you make up a pint of liquid, expect four to six servings in stemmed glasses, or one small mould.
Lowney's Cook Book was compiled by Maria Willett Howard and issued by the Walter M. Lowney Company, a Boston chocolate manufacturer, in the first decade of the twentieth century — a house cookbook meant to sell cocoa that ended up covering the whole domestic repertoire. Its long run of fruit jellies belongs to a specific moment: granulated gelatin sold in packets had recently displaced the day-long labour of boiling calf's feet, and a clear moulded jelly went from a mark of a serious kitchen to something any household could turn out. The citrus is the other half of the story. By the 1900s refrigerated rail cars were bringing Florida and California oranges to eastern markets, and a cookbook could treat orange juice as an ordinary ingredient rather than a luxury.