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Jellied Prunes
One-half pound of prunes, washed, soaked over night and cooked in same water until tender. Remove the stones and cut the prunes in quarters. Add enough boiling water to the liquor in which these have boiled to make two cups. Soak two and one-half tablespoons of granulated gelatine in one-half cup of cold water, add to the boiling mixture, sweeten with three-fourths of a cup of sugar and add two tablespoons of lemon juice. Strain, add prunes, turn into mold and set on ice. This may be served either with whipped or plain cream. TUTTI FRUTTI JELLY, No. 1-Make a wine or lemon jelly mixture, fill a mold to the depth of one-fourth-inch with this, allow it to become firm then lay sliced bananas, berries, bits of orange, and blanched almonds in alternate layers with the jelly mixture until the mold is full. Each layer must congeal thoroughly before the next one is added.
TUTTI FRUTTI JELLY, No. 2-Follow the preceding recipe, using preserved Tutti Frutti (See chapter on Preserving) instead of fresh fruit, and flavoring the jelly mixture with the liqour in which the fruit was preserved.
A straightforward gelatin mold that depends on getting the prune liquor and the gelatin in proportion. Two things in the original need adjusting for modern products: the gelatin quantity and the assumption that prunes arrive with stones in them.
- Gelatin quantityTwo and a half tablespoons of granulated gelatin to two and a half cups of liquid gives a stiff set by current standards. Modern granulated gelatin is more consistent in strength; about 1 1/2 tablespoons (roughly two 7 g envelopes) will unmold cleanly and still cut with a spoon.
- Bloom, then dissolveSoften the gelatin in the half cup of cold water for five minutes before it goes into the hot prune liquor, and stir until no grains remain when you lift the spoon. Undissolved granules can leave the set uneven and are one cause of a mold that weeps.
- PrunesMost prunes sold now are pitted and already soft enough to need no overnight soak. Simmer a half pound in water to cover for 15-20 minutes, then use that cooking liquid as the recipe directs; if they are unpitted, the overnight soak still applies.
- SugarThree-quarters of a cup suits tart, dry unsweetened prunes. Taste the sweetened liquor before molding — with today's fruit, a half cup is often enough, and the two tablespoons of lemon juice keep it from tasting flat.
- "Set on ice"An icebox instruction. Refrigerate at least four hours, or overnight for a mold you intend to turn out. Rinse the mold with cold water first and it will release with a brief dip in warm water.
- YieldThe liquid comes to about 2 1/2 cups before the prunes go in, roughly 3 to 3 1/2 cups in all; enough for a 1-quart mold, six small servings or four generous ones.
- Fruit for the tutti frutti variationsFresh pineapple, kiwi, papaya and fresh figs contain enzymes that break down gelatin and will keep the mold from setting. Canned pineapple is heat-treated and safe. Bananas darken within a few hours, so assemble that version the day it is served.
- LayeringThe instruction that each layer must congeal before the next is added is the whole technique. Keep the reserve jelly at room temperature, not in the refrigerator, or it will set in the bowl; pour it barely warm over a firm layer so the fruit stays suspended rather than floating.
Prunes were the workhorse dried fruit of the American pantry around 1900 — cheap, shelf-stable, available in every season, and drawn from the California orchards whose acreage had expanded through the 1880s and 1890s. That practicality is why a plain prune dessert sits in the same chapter as wine jellies and tutti frutti molds: it is the economical member of the family. The chapter itself reflects the arrival of reliable granulated gelatin in packets, which replaced the day-long business of boiling calves' feet and put molded desserts within reach of a cook with no kitchen staff. The book came from the Butterick Company, and the pairing here is characteristic — one recipe for everyday and two showpiece variations for when there is company.