Jellies of these fruits are all made in the following manner: Take the berries when ripe, and in their prime, mash them, and let them drain through a flannel bag, without squeezing it. To each pint of juice, put a pound of white sugar, and the beaten white of an egg to three pounds of the sugar. Set it on the fire—when it boils up well, take it from the fire, and skim it clear. Set it back on the fire—if any more scum rises, take it from the fire, and skim it off. Boil it till it becomes a jelly, which is ascertained by taking a little of it up into a tumbler of cold water. If it falls to the bottom in a solid mass, it is sufficiently boiled.
330. Cranberry, Grape, and Currant Jelly.
They are all made in the same manner. Take the fruit in its prime, wash and drain it till nearly dry, then put it in an earthen jar, or pot, and set the pot in a kettle of hot water. Set the kettle where the water will boil, taking care that none of it gets into the jar. When the fruit breaks, turn it into a flannel bag, and let it drain slowly through, into a deep dish, without squeezing. When the juice has all passed through the bag, put to each pint of it a pound and a half of white sugar. Put to each quart of the syrup the beaten white of an egg. Set the syrup where it will boil gently—as fast as any scum rises, take the syrup from the fire, and skim it clear. When the jelly has boiled fifteen or twenty minutes, try a little of it in a tumbler of cold water—if it sinks to the bottom of the tumbler in a solid lump, it is sufficiently boiled. Jellies are improved by being put in the sun for several days—care must be taken that the dew does not fall on them.
Halve the quinces, and take out the cores. Boil the quinces till very soft, in clear water, mash them, and let them drain through a flannel bag, without squeezing them. Put to the quince liquor, when drained through the bag, white sugar, in the proportion of a pound to a pint of the liquor. Add the whites of eggs, and clarify it. When clear, boil it on a moderate fire, till it becomes a thick jelly. Fill glasses with the jelly, and cover them tight. The quince pulp that remains in the jelly-bag can be made into marmalade.
Halve tart apples, and take out the cores. Boil them till very soft, in a large proportion of water—then let it pass through a jelly-bag, without squeezing them. Weigh the liquor, and to each pint of it put a pound of white sugar—then boil it slowly till it becomes a thick jelly, which is ascertained in the same manner as currant jelly. If you wish to have it of a red tinge, put in, when taken from the fire, a little cranberry or beet-juice. If you wish to have it a straw color, put in a little tincture of saffron. If green, use the expressed juice of spinach leaves. Let it pass through the jelly-bag again—when cool, turn it into glasses.
Put on a slow fire an ounce of white isinglass, pulled into small pieces, and rinsed, a pint of water, with the rind of six lemons. Stir it constantly till dissolved, then add a pint of lemon-juice, and sweeten it to the taste with nice white sugar. Boil the whole four or five minutes, then color it with tincture of saffron, and let it pass through a flannel bag, without squeezing it. Fill your jelly glasses with it when partly cooled.