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Grapefruit a La St. Patrick
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) granulated gelatin 1/2 cup cold water 1/2 cup boiling water Fresh mint 3/4 cup sugar 1 cup ice-water 2 cups grapefruit pulp and juice Maraschino cherries Keep the grapefruit skins, in halves. Simmer a few sprigs of fresh mint in the boiling water until the flavor is extracted. Follow the standard directions for making jelly. When jelly is firm, cut it into cubes, pile the cubes in the grapefruit shells and garnish with sprigs of mint and cherries.
A 1920s novelty dessert: mint-infused grapefruit jelly cut into cubes and heaped back into the hollowed shells. The technique is straightforward once the gelatin quantity and the missing "standard directions" are filled in.
- The gelatin measureThe original gives both "1 ounce" and "2 tablespoons," which do not agree — an ounce by weight of modern powdered gelatin is four 1/4-ounce envelopes, while 2 tablespoons is closer to two and a half. Go by the volume: about 2 1/2 envelopes for the 4 cups of total liquid, which gives a jelly firm enough to cut into cubes that hold their edges.
- Standard directions for jellySprinkle the gelatin over the 1/2 cup cold water and let it stand until swollen, 5 minutes. Strain the hot mint infusion over it and stir until completely dissolved with no grains clinging to the spoon, add the sugar and stir until clear, then the ice-water, then the grapefruit.
- Setting for cubesPour into a shallow pan so the jelly is about an inch deep; cubes come out neater than from a deep dish. Chill at least 4 hours, or overnight. Cut with a thin knife dipped in hot water and wiped dry.
- Preparing the shellsSection the grapefruit over a bowl to catch every drop of juice, then scrape the membrane out of the halves so the shells are clean and stiff. Two cups of pulp and juice takes roughly two to three medium grapefruit; trim a thin slice off the base of each shell so it sits level.
- The mintSimmering mint in only 1/2 cup water gives a concentrated infusion, but almost no color. The recipe calls for no coloring, so the jelly will be pale gold and cloudy rather than green; a drop of food coloring would supply the tint the name suggests.
- Acid and setGrapefruit juice is acidic, and acid softens a gelatin set, so it is worth keeping the gelatin on the generous side. Do not substitute fresh pineapple or kiwi for part of the fruit — their enzymes will prevent setting altogether.
- YieldFour filled shells, each a generous portion; six if you use smaller fruit or serve after a full meal.
New Delineator Recipes came out of The Delineator, the Butterick pattern company's magazine. Packaged granulated gelatin had been on the market since the 1890s and was a familiar convenience by the 1920s, while winter grapefruit from Florida and Texas was reaching northern markets in quantity. Grapefruit was still faintly novel as a household fruit in the 1920s, promoted first as a breakfast course and then, in the reducing-diet literature, as a slimming food; recipe editors put it into everything. The St. Patrick's Day framing reflects the era's appetite for holiday-coded dishes, where a sprig of mint, a green tint and a clever name were enough to turn a plain fruit jelly into an occasion. Serving food back in its own hollowed skin was a common presentation in the period's luncheon cookery, and it needed no mold.