Large White Currants, Bar-le-Duc Jelly

Have one pound of large picked white currants and a pound of loaf sugar; seed the fruits, using a pointed goose quill, and lay them in a vessel. Put half a pound of the sugar into a sugar pan with two gills of water, let it soak, then cook it to "bead" (No. 171); mix in the berries, leaving their juice in the vessel, and place the pan on the side of the range; five minutes later pour both fruits and liquid into a bowl, and three hours after lay a small sieve over the sugar pan and pour the fruits and syrup into this. Mix with the syrup half of the remaining sugar, and let it melt thoroughly, then cook it until it coats the skimmer and drops from it in beads; return the currants to the syrup; give them a single boil and return the whole to the bowl. Four hours after strain the syrup into the pan again, put the rest of the sugar with it and cook once more until it coats the skimmer; now add the currants and boil the whole up once. Set the pan back on the range for five minutes, but so that the syrup does not boil. Pour the jam into small jelly glasses; let get very cold before closing with paper. A few spoonfuls of clear apple juice can be added if necessary to give more consistency to the preserve.