Apple And Plum Butter

Wash and cut the apples and the plums. Use about three times as many apples as plums. Cook them in a small amount of water until they are tender, then put the cooked fruit through a sieve. To each cup of fruit pulp, add one-third cup of sugar. Cook the butter until it is thick and clear. Pour into hot, clean glasses and seal.

Combinations Of Fruits For Conserves, Marmalades And Preserves

1. One part peaches, three parts oranges, one part rhubarb, with nut-meats.

2. Equal parts peaches and plums, with nut-meats.

3. Two parts peaches, one part pineapple, one part rhubarb.

4. Equal parts peaches and apricots, with nut-meats.

5. Pears and ginger.

6. Two parts pears, one part orange, and one part pineapple.

7. Two pounds quinces, two oranges.

8. Equal parts grapes and crabapples, with nuts.

9. Equal parts plums and crabapples.

10. Apples with mint and nuts.

11. Two pounds figs, three pounds rhubarb, one lemon, one orange.

12. One part peaches, one part pineapple, one part white grapes with nuts.

Candied Fruits And Fruit Pastes

See chapter on Candies, pages 514-516.

Fruit Jellies

Fruit-jelly is made by combining fruit-juices and sugar in the right proportions and under the right conditions. To be good for jelly, a fruit-juice must contain acid and a substance called pectin. Pectin is the essential jelly-making substance. Some fruits contain acid and pectin in proper proportions for making perfect jelly. With other fruit-juices either acid or pectin has to be supplied by some other fruit in order to make good jelly. A sour juice makes a more tender jelly than one that contains little acid. Without sufficient pectin the mass will not jelly.

The Best Fruits For Jelly Making

Among the fruit-juices that make good jelly when used alone are apple, crabapple, partly ripe grapes, currants, and slightly underripe red raspberries. Such fruits as strawberries, peaches, pears, pineapples and cherries do not make good jelly when used alone. Currant-juice may be used with an equal measure of rhubarb-juice, with good results in color, texture and flavor. The table on page 683 suggests good combinations of fruit-juices.

A perfect jelly is clear, bright and tender. When cut, it has a clean surface and does not stick to the knife or spoon. When turned from the glass, jelly should hold its shape and should quiver but not break.

Tests For Pectin

In making jelly, it is necessary to know in general the proportion of pectin present, as on this depends not only the jellying of the mass but also the amount of sugar that will be required.

Epsom-Salts Test for Pectin - To one tablespoon of cooked fruit-juice, add one teaspoon sugar and one-half tablespoon Epsom salts. Stir the mixture until the salts have dissolved, and let it stand for twenty minutes. If the mixture forms a solid mass or large flocculent particles, the juice will make a satisfactory jelly without added pectin.

Quantity Of Sugar

Probably many of the failures in jelly-making are caused by the addition of too much sugar. Currants, underripe grapes, green gooseberries, barberries, and wild apples are practically the only fruit-juices that require an equal measure of sugar. Two-thirds as much sugar as juice is a good proportion for most fruits; the table on next page gives the proportions of juices and sugar for different kinds of jelly.