The Challenge: Balance. Make a dish that is somehow 'balanced' for the fall/spring equinox. I chose a recipe using weight rather than volume measures, and which called for equal amounts of the two ingredients.
The Recipe: Delicious Red Currant Jam from Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery in All its Branches
The Date/Year and Region: London, 1846 (2nd ed)
How Did You Make It: Using the second option, I took equal weights (2 lb 2 oz) of currants and sugar, and brought them to a boil for 7 minutes over medium high heat.
At this point, it should have thickened into a jam. Instead, I had fruit in syrup. I've made period jams before, which don't add extra pectin and just rely on cooking down the fruit with a lot of sugar, but these currants just didn't want to thicken. I canned the pseudo-jam (3 pints), using a water bath and modern glass jars. I then changed my mind, re-boiled the jam in an attempt to thicken it, and after a further 25 minutes finally saw a change in consistency.... upon pouring, however, I found that I had reduced the volume by 1/3 (2 pints only), and candied the syrup. It still tasted fine, so I processed the cans and marked them for potential use in molded jellies and ices (which sometimes call for melted preserves) rather than as jam.
Time to Complete: About an hour for the first round, including processing.
Total Cost: All items on hand.
How Successful Was It?: This year has been cursed for jam. The currants tasted great, but they definitely weren't jelling after the prescribed 7 minutes: the product instead resembled whole berries in a fruit syrup. I ended up boiling a second time, but still saw no thickening until 25 minutes had passed. Upon pouring that into jars, I discovered that 1) the sugar has candied, and 2) the volume had reduced by 1/3.
These might still be salvagable for flavoring fruit ices and jellies, but not as jam. :(
How Accurate Is It?: I followed the recipe (I thought) closely, though I did use an electric range, as well as modern glass jars and water bath canning techniques. I've tried using period ceramic jars before, and while the technique works, it doesn't meet modern food safety standards (and I prefer not risking food poisoning).
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| Red flowering currants. I think they look more black. Tasty, but not particularly sweet. |
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| Candied currants that should have been jam. |
Oh, bummer! I hate when jam does that! At least you've got some idea to salvage it all...
ReplyDeleteIt's almost fortuitous, since I've wondered about Beeton's phrasing on those receipts (the melted preserves seem to substitute for fresh fruit in creams, ices, jellies, and the like during the winter). Will definitely post the results when I try it!
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