No. 3671

Currant Jelly and Currant Jelly with Apples

Gelee de Groseille et Gelee de Groseille aux Pommes

Pick some not too ripe red currants from their stalks; lay them in a copper preserving pan and set this on the fire; as soon as the fruits have dissolved strain the juice forcibly through a cloth into a vessel; pour this back into the pan and add one and a half pounds of sugar for each quart of juice. When the sugar has all melted place the pan on a hot fire and cook it until the preparation dropped from the skimmer forms into a jelly, or else if a drop be placed on a flat surface it will retain the shape of a bead and not spread, being careful to stir the liquid continuously with a skimmer. As soon as the jelly is cooked pour it into stone pots or heated glasses. In order to have it fine and clear no more than two gallons should be cooked at once.

Currant Jelly with Apples.—Prepare the currant juice as above and add an equal quantity of liquid in which apples have been cooked, then finish as for the above, when a currant and apple jelly will be obtained.

← No. 3670 Currant Jelly and Plain Currant Jelly; Cranb Preserves & Conserves No. 3672 Quince Jelly →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's method is a straight two-ingredient jelly that relies entirely on the natural pectin and acid in underripe red currants. A few of his working assumptions need translating.

The panAn untinned copper preserving pan was standard in professional kitchens and does react with acidic fruit. Use a wide stainless or enamelled pan instead; width matters more than material, since evaporation is what sets the jelly.
Underripe fruit is the point"Not too ripe" is the hinge of the whole recipe. Pectin and acid are both highest just before full ripeness, and fully ripe currants will give a softer, slower set with no added pectin to fall back on.
Sugar ratioOne and a half pounds of sugar per quart of juice is roughly 3 1/3 cups sugar to 4 cups juice by volume, or about 675 g to 950 ml. That is a lower-sugar jelly than most modern recipes, which is why the fruit has to carry the pectin load.
The doneness testThe "bead" that holds its shape and the sheeting off the skimmer both correspond to about 220F/104C at sea level, or 8F above the boiling point of water where you are. A thermometer is faster and more reliable than the plate test, but the plate is a good confirmation.
Two gallons at a timeThe batch limit is not superstition. A large volume takes so long to reach setting point that the pectin degrades and the sugar caramelises, giving dark, soft jelly. Cook no more than about 8 cups of juice at once.
Straining "forcibly"Pressing the pulp through cloth extracts more juice but pushes fine solids through and clouds the finished jelly. If clarity matters to you, let the juice drip through a jelly bag undisturbed and accept a smaller yield.
The apple versionThe "liquid in which apples have been cooked" is apple pectin stock: simmer chopped whole apples, cores and peel included, in just enough water to cover, then strain. Tart, firm apples give the most pectin. It stretches the currants and softens the sharpness.
Filling and keeping"Stone pots or heated glasses" means warmed jars, filled hot. Ranhofer says nothing about how long they were kept; for shelf storage now, fill sterilised jars and process in a boiling water bath rather than relying on a paraffin seal.
YieldRanhofer gives none. Expect roughly 5 cups of finished jelly from 4 cups of juice and the sugar above, about five half-pint jars.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of some three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its preserving chapter reads like a professional larder list: currant jelly was less a breakfast spread than a working ingredient, spooned into sauce Cumberland, brushed over game, and served with mutton and venison. Red currants were the classic jelly fruit of French and English kitchens precisely because they need no help setting, and gel"e de groseille has a long association with Bar-le-Duc in Lorraine, whose currant preserve, made with the seeds picked out by hand, was a luxury export. The apple variant is a frugality that doubles as insurance: apple cooking liquid is cheap, nearly flavourless, and rich in pectin, so it extends an expensive fruit while guaranteeing the set. Currants themselves largely vanished from American kitchens in the twentieth century after Ribes plantings were restricted as a host of white pine blister rust, which is why a jelly this routine in 1894 is an unusual thing to find today.