Jelly Making And Jellies Recipe ingredients

To prepare this Jelly Making And Jellies Recipe, first all varieties of fruit when about ripe contain pectin. If the juice be withdrawn from the fruit, the pectin is withdrawn with it. Boil the juice with the proper proportion of sugar and the pectin will cause the mass to jelly. Pectin is not fully developed until the fruit is nearly ripe; long keeping changes the character of the pectin as does, also, too long cooking of the juice with sugar. Then for success in jelly making let the fruit be not over ripe, and let it be freshly gathered. Also avoid cooking the juice and sugar too much.

Acid fruits make the best jelly. No jelly is better than that made of currants. Large, firm fruit, as apples, crab apples and quinces, must be boiled in water until soft. Avoid stirring the fruit during cooking as it is thought to make the jelly cloudy. The flavoring matter and pectin will become dissolved in the water. No water should be added to juicy fruits, as grapes, currants and berries. The water added to firm fruits must be evaporated by cooking before the addition of sugar. By this cooking the fresh flavor of the fruit is diminished somewhat.

The juice may be extracted from juicy fruits by heating them very slowly, either on the back of the range or in a double boiler. Juice may be extracted from currants without heat, by simply squeezing the fruit in a bag with the hands, then letting drip from the bag.

A flannel bag is thought to give the clearest jelly, but a bag made of new cotton of close texture answers admirably.

The quantity of sugar needed varies somewhat with the season, more being required in a cold wet season than in a season of much sunshine. Usually a cup of sugar to each cup of juice is the right proportion, though many successful jelly makers use but three-fourths a cup of sugar to a cup of juice; the latter proportion is taken especially when the juice of firm fruits is used and the water is evaporated by cooking before the addition of the sugar.

For jellies made with firm fruit cook the juice rapidly fifteen or twenty minutes; have the sugar made hot in the oven, add it, and let the mixture boil about two minutes. Try a little on a cold saucer; as soon as it jellies on the saucer it is ready to pour into the glasses. When the juice is put over the fire, set the jelly glasses on a towel in a pan, pour lukewarm water in and around the glasses and let it gradually heat nearly to the boiling point. To make the sugar hot in the oven, spread it on tin or agate plates; do not have the oven too hot and stir the sugar occasionally. Let juice from juicy fruits boil about five minutes before adding the sugar.

COVERING JELLIES

Bacteria and yeasts, the micro-organisms with which we have to deal in canning, do not thrive in a heavy sugar syrup, thus jellies and "pound for pound" preserves need not be sealed hermetically, but other organisms, molds, grow freely on moist sugary substances exposed to the air. To protect jelly from molds cover with a towel as soon as cold and as soon as possible cover more securely. The simplest and most satisfactory cover is white paper. Cut out pieces of paper the size of the glass at the top of the jelly and a second set of papers about an inch in diameter larger than the first. Brush over one side of the smaller papers with alcohol or brandy and press upon the jelly. Brush the edge of the second pieces with beaten white of egg or mucilage and press down, over the top of the glass and upon the sides of the glass, to which it will closely adhere. Store in a cool dry place.