Page:The White House Cook Book.djvu/473

 PRESERVES, JELLJES, ETC. 433

and boil gently until the jelly thickens, when a little is poured on a plate; carefully remove all the scum as it rises, pour the jelly into small pots, cover down, and keep in a dry place. This jelly answers for making raspberry cream and for flavoring various sweet dishes, when, in winter, the fresh fruit is not obtainable.

APPLE JELLY.

SELECT apples that are rather tart and highly flavored; slice them without paring; place in a porcelain preserving- kettle, cover with water, and let them cook slowly until the apples look red. Pour into a colander, drain off the juice, and let this run through a jelly-bag; return to the kettle, which must be carefully washed, and boil half an hour; measure it and allow to every pint of juice a pound of sugar and half the juice of a lemon ; boil quickly for ten minutes.

The juice of apples boiled in shallow vessels, without a particle of sugar, makes the most sparkling, delicious jelly imaginable. Red apples will give jelly the color and clearness of claret, while that from light fruit is like amber. Take the cider just as it is made, not allowing it to ferment at all, and, if possible, boil it in a pan, flat, very large and shallow.

GRAPE JELLY.

MASH well the berries so as to remove the skins ; pour all into a pre- serving kettle and cook slowly for a few minutes to extract the juice ; strain through a colander, and then through a flannel jelly-bag, keep- ing as hot as posible, for if not allowed to cool before putting again on the stove the jelly comes much stiffer; a few quince seeds boiled with the berries the first time tend to stiffen it; measure the juice, allowing a pound of sugar to every pint of juice, and boil fast for at least half an hour. Try a little, and if it seems done, remove and put

into glasses.

FLORIDA ORANGE JELLY.

GRATE the yellow rind of two Florida oranges and two lemons, and squeeze the juice into a porcelain-lined preserving kettle, adding the juice of two more oranges, and removing all the seeds; put in the grated rind a quarter of a pound of sugar, or more if the fruit is sour, and a gill of water, and boil these ingredients together until a rich syrup is formed ; meantime, dissolve two ounces of gelatine in a quart of warm water, stirring it over the fire until it is entirely dis-

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