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Plum Conserve
4 lbs. plums 1 cup seeded raisins 2 oranges sugar juice 1 lemon 1/2 lb. walnuts Wash plums; remove stones; add raisins and oranges which have been sliced very fine. Measure and add 3/4 cup sugar to each cup fruit and juice. Put into kettle, cook slowly about 45 minutes or until thick like jam, stirring to keep from burning. Add lemon juice and chopped nuts. Pour into sterilized jars or tumblers.
A conserve is a jam carrying dried fruit and nuts, and this one is measured by volume after the fruit is prepared rather than by weight. That single step governs how much sugar you end up with.
- Measure after cuttingStone and cut the plums, slice the oranges, add the raisins, then measure the whole mass with its juice in a cup measure. Three-quarters of a cup of sugar per cup of fruit; the total depends entirely on what the prepared fruit measures, which is why the recipe gives no sugar quantity.
- The oranges go in whole'Sliced very fine' most likely means peel and all, with the seeds picked out, though the recipe does not say so. The rind and pith carry pectin and a bitterness that keeps the conserve from tasting like sweetened plum sauce. Slice them paper-thin or the peel stays leathery.
- Choose the plumsItalian prune plums or damsons hold up best; both are tart and high in pectin, though damsons cling to their stones and are tedious to pit. Large soft dessert plums give a looser, sweeter set and may want the full 45 minutes and then some.
- Judge doneness, not the clockForty-five minutes is a fair estimate for a wide kettle, but altitude, pan width and fruit moisture all move it. Cook to about 220F, or until a spoonful on a chilled plate wrinkles when pushed.
- Nuts and lemon lastThe recipe adds both after the cooking is done. Walnuts cooked into the syrup turn soft and grey, and prolonged boiling drives off the fresh lemon note. Toasting the walnuts first keeps them crisper in the jar.
- "Tumblers" and paraffinJelly tumblers sealed with a wax cap were standard in the period and are no longer considered a sound seal. Use standard canning jars with two-piece lids, and process filled jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
- Nuts shorten the lifeWalnut oil goes rancid faster than the sugar-and-fruit base spoils, so nut conserves are generally reckoned best eaten within six months or so, and stored in the dark.
- YieldExpect roughly 8 to 10 half-pint jars. Fill to 1/4 inch of the rim.
Conserves sit between jam and the older "sweetmeat" tradition: a fruit preserve enriched with raisins, citrus and nuts, generally intended for the tea table or as a relish alongside roast meat and game rather than simply for toast. The New Royal Cook Book, issued by the makers of Royal Baking Powder, was one of the promotional cookbooks that companies distributed in enormous numbers in the early twentieth century; this recipe calls simply for sterilized jars or tumblers. The sugar ratio here is three-quarters of a cup per cup of fruit.