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Cherries, Morello, to Pre- serve
INGREDIENTS. - To every lb. of cherries allow 1¼ lb. of sugar, 1 gill of water.
AVERAGE COST, 8d. per pot.
Select ripe cherries, pick off the stalks, and reject all that have any blemishes.
Boil the sugar and water together for 5 minutes; put in the cherries, and boil them for 10 minutes, removing the scum as it rises. Then turn the fruit, &c., into a pan, and let it remain until the next day, when boil it all again for another 10 minutes, and, if necessary, skim well. Put the cherries into small pots, pour over them the syrup, and, when cold, cover down with oiled papers, and the tops of the jars with tissue-paper, brushed over on both sides with the white of egg, and keep in a dry place.
TIME. Altogether, 25 minutes to boil.
SEASONABLE. - Make this in July or August.
Cherries, To Preserve, in
A two-day preserve of whole cherries in syrup rather than a set jam. The overnight rest is the point of the method: it lets the sugar work into the fruit so the cherries stay plump instead of collapsing.
- A gillIn a British book of this period a gill is a quarter of an imperial pint, about 5 fl oz or 150 ml. Call it a generous half cup per pound of fruit.
- Morellos specificallyMorello is a sour cherry (Prunus cerasus), dark, acid and firm, sold fresh only briefly in summer and often only frozen or jarred. Equal weights of fruit and sugar is the book's standard preserving proportion, and it suits this acidity well; with sweet dessert cherries the same treatment can taste flat.
- Stones stay inBeeton says nothing about pitting, and the instructions (pick off the stalks, reject blemished fruit) imply the cherries go in whole. If you pit them, work over a bowl and add the juice to the pan, and expect softer fruit and a shorter boil.
- Why two boilingsCherries are low in pectin and will not set like a jam. The 10 minutes, overnight stand, then a second 10 minutes concentrates the syrup gradually so the fruit candies slightly rather than bursting. The finished result is fruit suspended in a loose, pourable syrup.
- SkimmingSkim in earnest during the first boil, as the recipe directs; the scum is albuminous matter and debris from the fruit and stirring it back in will cloud the syrup. A wide pan and a metal spoon held flat work better than a slotted skimmer.
- Ignore the sealing methodOiled paper and egg-washed tissue relied on a cold larder and quick eating. Use hot sterilised jars with new two-piece lids or a proper water bath, and once opened keep the jar in the refrigerator.
- YieldA pound of cherries with its pound of sugar makes appreciably more than a pound of finished preserve; reckon on filling about one and a half 1 lb jars. The recipe specifies only 'small pots' and gives no capacity.
- ServingThis is not a spreading preserve. It belongs beside duck or game, on rice pudding, with thick cream, or spooned over cheesecake, and the syrup is worth keeping for drinks.
Morello cherries were a kitchen-garden fixture in nineteenth-century England, recommended for fan-training against north-facing walls where sweeter varieties would not ripen, and their acidity made them a standard choice for preserving, tarts and brandied fruit. The name is of uncertain origin: it is variously traced to Italian morello, blackish, and to a diminutive of Latin amarus, bitter. Recipes of this kind, giving fruit and sugar by equal weight and nothing else, reflect a household in which a July glut had to be turned into something that would last until winter, and Beeton's costing of eightpence a pot is a reminder that these books were written for mistresses accounting for every jar in the store cupboard.