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Raspberry and Currant Jam
INGREDIENTS for 24 pots of jam.-9 lbs. of red currants, 6 lbs. of raspberries, 12 lbs. of loaf sugar. AVERAGE COST, 7s. 6d. to 8s. 6d.
Pick over the currants and stem the raspberries, and put both, with the sugar, in a preserving-pan; and after coming to the boil, boil for 3/4 hour. Remove all scum as it rises, and put into pots, covering the jam with oiled paper; and then the pots with tissue-paper, brushed over with white of egg.
TIME. hour.
SEASONABLE. - Make in July.
A high-yield Victorian preserve built on the natural pectin of red currants, which do the setting work for the softer raspberries. The quantities assume a household putting up two dozen jars at once; everything scales down cleanly by thirds.
- Scale it downThe full batch is 15 lb of fruit and 12 lb of sugar, needing a preserving pan of 12 litres or more. A third of the recipe — 3 lb currants, 2 lb raspberries, 4 lb sugar — fits an ordinary large stockpot and gives roughly eight 340 g jars.
- Loaf sugarLoaf or lump sugar was refined cane sugar sold in a cone and broken up with nippers. Plain granulated white sugar is the direct equivalent; there is no need for jam sugar here, since the currants supply ample pectin.
- The boiling time is too longThree-quarters of an hour at a rolling boil will take this well past setting point and into something dark and toffee-flavoured. Modern practice is to boil hard and test from about 10 minutes, looking for 105°C on a sugar thermometer or a wrinkle on a chilled saucer.
- Dissolve before boilingThe instruction to put fruit and sugar in together and bring straight to the boil risks crystals scorching on the pan base. Heat gently, stirring, until every grain has dissolved, and only then raise the heat.
- Stemming the currants'Pick over' means going through the fruit for debris and damaged berries; the currants will also need stripping from their strigs, most easily done by running the stems through the tines of a fork. A few stray strigs will not hurt, but they are unpleasant to meet in a finished pot.
- Covering the jarsOiled paper laid directly on the hot surface, then a tissue-paper top sealed with egg white as it dried, was the Victorian substitute for an airtight lid. Use hot sterilised jars and screw-top lids or waxed discs and cellophane instead, and store the jars in a cool dark cupboard.
- ScumSkim it as it rises, as directed, or stir in a small knob of butter at the end of boiling to disperse the foam — a common trick that keeps the finished jam clear.
- SeasonJuly is when both fruits overlap in Britain. Frozen currants and raspberries work perfectly well out of season and, if anything, give up their juice more readily.
Red currants and raspberries were a common Victorian pairing in the preserving pan for a practical reason: raspberries are low in pectin and set poorly on their own, while red currants are high in both pectin and acid. The combination gives a firm jam with the raspberry flavour in front. The scale here says something about the household the book was written for: twenty-four pots at a sitting, put up in July. The costing in shillings and pence is a fixture of the original Book of Household Management.