Currant Jelly Recipe

Currants should not be over ripe. Equal parts of red and white currants

or currants and raspberries make a delicately colored and flavored

jelly. Pick over and remove the leaves and poor fruit, and if filthy

wash and drain them but do not stem them. Mash them in a porcelain

kettle, with wooden pestle without heating as that makes the jelly dark.

Let them drain in a flannel bag over night. Do not squeeze them, or

the jelly will be cloudy. In the morning measure a bowl of sugar for

each bowl of juice, and heat the sugar carefully in an earthern dish in

the oven. Stir it often to prevent burning: boil the juice twenty

minutes and skim thoroughly. Add the hot sugar and boil from three to

five minutes or till it thickens on a spoon when exposed to the air.

Turn at once into glasses and let them remain in the sun several days

then cover with paper dipped in brandy and paste paper over the tops of

the glasses. One who is authority on this subject recommends covering

with melted paraffine, or putting a lump of paraffine in the jelly while

still hot. After draining the juice, the currants may be squeezed and a

second quality of jelly made, it may not be clear but will answer for

some purposes.