Have one pound of currants free of stalks and one pound of powdered sugar; mix both together in a vessel without crusting the currants; when the sugar is dissolved pour the whole into a copper pan and stand it on the fire; after it has been boiling for five or six minutes the syrup will have cooked to the proper degree, that is, until it coats the skimmer and drops from it in beads. Now pour the fruit and syrup on to a sieve laid over a vessel fit to receive the liquid, and use this to fill jelly glasses; keep slightly warm for two hours, then leave to cool before covering the glasses with paper.

Another way is to select the currants when not too ripe; pick off all the stalks and put the fruit in a copper pan with three-quarters of their weight of powdered sugar; when this is partly melted stand the pan on a slow fire to bring the liquid to a boil while skimming; boil it once or twice only; skim well, strain through a napkin and pour into jelly glasses.

Plain

Slightly cook ten pounds of currants with their stalks in a copperpan; pass them through a sieve having sufficiently fine meshes to prevent the seeds from passing; mix an equal weight of sugar to this juice; cook until it coats the skimmer and drops from it in beads, being careful to skim during the whole process of cooking. Fill some heated glasses or jars, and when cold cover with a round of paper soaked in brandy, then cover the top of the vessel with strong paper.

(3671). Currant Jelly And Currant Jelly With Apples (Gelee De Groseille Et Gelee De Groseille Aux Pommes)

Pick some not too ripe red currants from their stalks; lay them in a copper preserving pan and set this on the fire; as soon as the fruits have dissolved strain the juice forcibly through a cloth into a vessel; pour this back into the pan and add one and a half pounds of sugar for each quart of juice. When the sugar has all melted place the pan on a hot fire and cook it until the preparation dropped from the skimmer forms into a jelly, or else if a drop be placed on a flat surface it will retain the shape of a bead and not spread, being careful to stir the liquid continuously with a skimmer. As soon as the jelly is cooked pour it into stone pots or heated glasses. In order to have it fine and clear no more than two gallons should be cooked at once.

Currant Jelly With Apples

Prepare the currant juice as above and add an equal quantity of liquid in which apples have been cooked, then finish as for the above, when a currant and apple jelly will be obtained.

(3678). Large White Currants, Bar-Le-Duc Jelly (Confiture De Groseilles De Bar-Le-Duc)

Have one pound of large picked white currants and a pound of loaf sugar; seed the fruits, using a pointed goose quill, and lay them in a vessel. Put. half a pound of the sugar into a sugar pan with two gills of water, let it soak, then cook it to " bead " (No. 171); mix in the berries, leaving their juice in the vessel, and place the pan on the side of the range; live minutes later pour both fruits and liquid into a bowl, and three hours after lay a small sieve over the sugar pan and pour the fruits and syrup into this. Mix with the syrup half of the remaining sugar, and let it melt thoroughly, then cook it until it coats the skimmer and drops from it in beads; return the currants to the syrup; give them a single boil and return the whole to the bowl. Four hours after strain the syrup into the pan again, put the rest of the sugar with it and cook once more until it coats the skimmer; now add the currants and boil the whole up once. Set the pan back on the range for five minutes, but so that the syrup does not boil. Pour the jam into small jelly glasses; let get very cold before closing with paper.

A few spoonfuls of clear apple juice can be added if necessary to give more consistency to the preserve.