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Raspberry Jelly
1 pint of raspberry juice 1 pound of loaf sugar To draw the juice from the berries, put them in a jar, and bruise them slightly; then place the jar in a pan of boiling water and keep it boiling gently until the juice flows freely. Lay a piece of muslin in a fine sieve, and pour the juice into it until no more flows; then turn the fruit into the sieve, and leave it to let the juice drain away from it, but it must not be pressed or the juice will be muddy. Measure the juice carefully, and add the sugar in lumps, in the quantity given. Let it boil gently, and skim it carefully. When it has boiled for half an hour, pour a teaspoon on a cold plate, and if it sets the jelly is done; if not, let it boil a little longer. Put it in small pots, and cover when cold in the usual way. The flavor is much improved by one part of red currant juice being used to two parts of raspberry.
A straightforward steam-extracted jelly with an equal weight of sugar to juice. Two things decide whether it sets: the pectin, which raspberries are short on, and the finish temperature.
- The hinge: the cold-plate testHalf an hour of boiling is a guideline, not a rule, and on a wide pan it may be far too long. Start testing at ten minutes, or use a thermometer and pull the jelly at 220F (8F above the boiling point of water where you live). Overboiled raspberry jelly turns dark and tastes of caramel rather than fruit.
- Loaf sugarLoaf or lump sugar was refined cane sold in cones or cut cubes; ordinary granulated sugar is the same thing. One pound is about 2 1/4 cups.
- A pint of juiceTaking a pint as 16 fl oz (2 cups), the ratio is roughly equal weights of juice and sugar. If your edition uses the British 20 fl oz pint, the jelly will be looser.
- Drawing the juiceThe jar standing in a pan of simmering water is a water-bath juicer; a heatproof bowl over a pan of water, or a covered saucepan set over very low heat, does the same. Allow anywhere from half an hour to an hour or more for the fruit to collapse and run.
- Do not press the pulpThis is why the recipe insists on it: pressing forces fine pulp through the cloth and the finished jelly goes cloudy. Let it drip, and accept the lower yield. Hang the muslin overnight if you like.
- The currant is not optional in practiceThe currant is worth adding -- Raspberries are only moderate in pectin. The suggested one part red currant juice to two parts raspberry adds pectin and acid and makes a firmer, more reliable set. Without currants, add commercial pectin and follow that packet's sugar ratio, or expect a softer set.
- Covering "in the usual way"At the time that meant a disc of paper, brandy-soaked or waxed, and often paraffin poured over the top. Paraffin sealing is no longer recommended, as it cracks and lets mold in. Fill sterilized half-pint jars, seal with two-piece lids and process 5-10 minutes in a boiling-water bath, or simply refrigerate and use within a month.
- YieldA pint of juice with a pound of sugar gives roughly 2 to 2 1/2 cups of jelly, so two or three half-pint jars.
Jelly made from strained juice rather than crushed whole fruit was the prestige preserve of the nineteenth-century still-room: clear, jewel-coloured, and set entirely by the fruit's own pectin, since commercial pectin was not sold to home cooks until the 1910s and 1920s. The raspberry-and-currant pairing here is old kitchen practice rather than a flourish, because red currants are among the most pectin- and acid-rich fruits in the temperate garden and were routinely used to stiffen weaker fruits. Its presence in a meatless cookbook reflects how such books were built: with the roast removed, the sweet course, the preserve shelf and the bread-and-butter tray carried a good deal more of the meal, and a well-set jelly was both a dessert and a store-cupboard staple. The instruction not to press the pulp marks the recipe as a cook's recipe rather than a thrifty one; clarity was the point, and the leftover pulp would have gone to a coarser jam or a fruit cheese.