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Spiced Currants
Mrs. H. Baird.
Six pounds currants or gooseberries, five pounds sugar, half a pint of vinegar; spices, cloves, and cinnamon. Boil till thick.
A sweet-sour spiced preserve of the kind Victorian cooks served alongside cold meat and game rather than on toast. Two things need settling before you start: which currants are meant, and how thick "thick" is.
- Which currantsThese are fresh red or black currants (Ribes), not the dried Zante currants sold in the baking aisle. Six pounds is a large quantity; the recipe halves and quarters without trouble.
- GooseberriesIf you use gooseberries, top and tail them first. They hold their shape longer than currants and will need a few extra minutes of boiling to break down.
- Half a pint of vinegarIn a Toronto book of this date this is most likely an imperial half-pint, about 10 fl oz or 1¼ cups; a US half-pint of 8 fl oz (1 cup) is possible but less likely. Cider vinegar or a white wine vinegar at around 5 percent acidity suits the fruit.
- The spicesNo quantity is given. For six pounds of fruit, about a tablespoon of whole cloves and two or three cinnamon sticks tied in muslin is in keeping, and the bag can be pulled once the flavour is where you want it. Ground spice works but will cloud the preserve and darken it.
- "Boil till thick"Currants are rich in pectin, so this sets readily. Cook at a steady rolling boil, stirring often once it thickens, and stop at 220F on a thermometer or when a spoonful chilled on a cold plate wrinkles when pushed. The pan should be wide and heavy; sugar at this ratio scorches quickly.
- Sugar ratioFive pounds sugar to six pounds fruit, together with the vinegar, is what keeps the finished product stable. Reducing it substantially will give you a loose, perishable sauce.
- Yield and keepingExpect roughly five to six pints. The book gives no processing instructions; ladle into hot sterilised jars and either refrigerate and use within a few months, or follow a current tested water-bath canning procedure for times and headspace.
- ServingTreat it as a condiment. It is at its best with cold roast lamb, ham, duck, or a firm cheese, and it improves after a month in the jar as the spice settles into the fruit.
The Home Cook Book (Toronto, 1877) was compiled from contributions by "ladies of Toronto and other cities and towns," with proceeds going to the Hospital for Sick Children, which is why so many of its entries carry a contributor's name like Mrs. H. Baird rather than a house style. Spiced fruits of this sort — berries, plums, peaches or currants boiled down with sugar, vinegar and warm spice — were a fixture of the nineteenth-century larder, standing in for the bottled chutneys and relishes that would later be bought ready-made. The technique is older than the book: sugar-and-vinegar preserving descends from the medieval and early modern taste for sharp, spiced accompaniments to roast meat, and it survived in North American household cookery well into the twentieth century in the form of pickled peaches and spiced grapes. Currants were a practical choice for a Canadian garden, hardy, prolific, and high enough in pectin that no added setting agent was needed.