Mince Meat

A meatless mincemeat of the sort that filled American pie shelves in the early twentieth century, finished by the old "open kettle" method. The list of flavourings survives clearly; the amounts and the canning step do not stand up.

• The quantities cannot be recoveredNearly every fruit and liquid measure here has lost its fraction, so there is no way to know whether a cup, a half or a quarter was meant. Without those numbers the acid balance of the finished mixture is unknown, and acidity is precisely what determines whether a sealed jar is safe.
• Open-kettle canning is obsolete"Put into sterilized jars" with no boiling-water bath and no processing time was standard advice in this period. It relies on the hot mixture sterilising the jar and pulling a seal as it cools, which does not reliably destroy spoilage organisms or produce a durable vacuum. Current preserving practice requires a measured process time in a boiling-water canner or, for any mincemeat containing meat or suet, a pressure canner.
• Why mincemeat in particularFruit mincemeats sit near the borderline between high- and low-acid foods. Raisins, currants and citron are only mildly acidic, and the syrup and dried fruit make the mixture thick and slow to heat through. That combination -- uncertain pH plus poor heat penetration -- is the classic setting for Clostridium botulinum in an under-processed sealed jar. Use a current tested recipe if you want mincemeat to keep.
• "Cider" hereIn an American source of this kind cider most likely means sweet apple cider rather than the fermented British drink; it was a common souring and moistening liquid in meatless mincemeat. The book's origin and date are not established by the page itself.
• Syrup from sweet pickleThe spiced sugar-and-vinegar liquid left in a jar of sweet pickles, saved and reused rather than poured away. It contributed both sweetness and vinegar sharpness, which is part of why the acid level is impossible to guess now.
• CitronCandied citron peel, sold in blocks or tubs at holiday time; hard, waxy and intensely aromatic, not the same thing as ordinary candied mixed peel.
• Sultana raisinsThe seedless golden raisin. The recipe marks them as preferred but gives no reason.
• MaceThe outer covering of the nutmeg seed, warmer and less resinous than the nut. A teaspoon alongside grated nutmeg was not a duplication to cooks of the period; the two were treated as distinct spices.