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Currant Jelly Water
2 tbsp. currant jelly 2 tbsp. syrup Mix ingredients in order given. 2 tbsp. lemon juice 2/3 cup cold water
A single-glass invalid drink, printed in two columns so the ingredient list reads out of order. Reassembled it is 2 tablespoons currant jelly, 2 tablespoons syrup, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 2/3 cup cold water.
- The hinge: dissolve the jelly firstCurrant jelly will not disperse in cold water on its own; it stays in a lump at the bottom of the glass. Work it smooth with the syrup and lemon juice first, then stir in the water.
- What "syrup" means hereIn a book of this vintage "syrup" most likely means plain sugar syrup, sugar boiled briefly with water and cooled, rather than corn syrup or maple; bottled simple syrup behaves the same. The recipe gives no proportions for it.
- Currant jellyRed currant jelly, tart and firmly set, not the sweeter jam or the blackcurrant preserve. If yours is a soft-set jam, strain out the skins so the drink stays clear.
- BalanceTwo tablespoons of lemon juice against two of syrup and two of jelly gives a tart drink. Taste and add water or syrup rather than treating the proportions as fixed.
- YieldAbout one cup, one serving. It scales directly and keeps a day covered in the refrigerator, though the lemon dulls after a few hours.
- ServingStrain into a tumbler over ice if the patient can take it cold, and serve with a spoon or straw.
The "sick room" chapter was a common feature of church and community cookbooks in the early twentieth century, when convalescence happened at home and the cook, not a nurse, was often expected to supply beef tea, gruel, barley water and tart fruit drinks. Currant jelly was a natural base: a jar kept well, and its acidity was thought refreshing to a feverish patient with no appetite. The logic behind such drinks, that sugar and fruit acid in water are easier to take than food, resembles that of a modern oral rehydration drink, arrived at by taste rather than physiology. If the book is a Philathea publication, the name refers to the Baraca-Philathea movement of adult Bible classes, whose fundraising cookbooks were a common form of church publishing in this period.