Fruit butter.
Fruit butters seem to be of Dutch or German origin. They are smooth pastes made by long-con tinued stirring. They are given their name from being used as or in place of butter. Sometimes several fruits are combined. Skins and seeds are removed, but the mass is not sifted. Sugar may or may not be used. The apple butter of Pennsylva nia and Ohio is closely akin to the cider apple sauce of New England, but is usually a smoother paste.
To make apple butter, sweet cider is boiled down one-half, then pared and cored apples are put in it. There should be rather more apple than cider, but if too thick add more cider ; if too thin add more apples. Stir with a wooden paddle till a rich, dark color and the desired consistency are secured. Further evaporation may be secured by putting the butter in stone jars in a slow oven. Spice may be added for variety, or when the apples are of inferior flavor. The better the apples and the more care given to every detail, the better will be the result. This product has had a market value, but is used mainly for home consumption, always ready as a relish for any meal. Apple-but ter "frolics" once ranked with corn-huskings among the autumn festivities. (Fig. 239.) Jam.
Jam is the general English term for any fruit conserve. The origin of the word seems evident, but it is also traced to words meaning t ) congeal or thicken. Jams are usually made from the smaller fruits and berries, which may be jammed or mashed without previous cooking and which do not require the straining and longer process in volved in jellies, marmalades or fruit butter. The fruit is cleaned, put into the kettle and jammed with a wooden masher as it heats, enough juice flowing out at once to prevent burning. Since no water is added, less time is required for evapora tion, and in most cases cooking for half an hour is enough before the sugar is put in ; then cooking should continue five or ten minutes more. As com monly known, jams are seldom as firm as jellies and marmalades. Similar compounds are some times called fruit purées.
Currants, if clean and thoroughly mashed, may be combined with an equal amount of sugar, and will keep without cooking if packed in sealed jars, their natural acid being enough to repel bacteria.
.Marmalade.
"After a good dinner, left Mrs. Hunt and my wife making a marmalett of quinces," says Mr. Pepys in his Diary, November 2, 1663; so mar malade is no new product. The derivation of the word shows that the quince was probably the first fruit used in this way. Its modern form is usually made from acid and semi-bitter fruits, and has a texture between the fruit butter or jam and jel lies. The fleshy fruits with much pulp are desira ble for this purpose, and those too ripe to keep their shape if preserved whole may be used.
Some fruits may yield material for both jelly and marmalade. The cleaned fruit is cooked, with water enough to prevent burning, until soft. The clear juice is then drained off for jelly, and the pulp while still warm is sifted through coarse cheese-cloth (or a hair sieve, a puree strainer, or potato ricer) for marmalade. To avoid burning, the fruit pulp may then be cooked until thick before adding sugar, which is generally used in a smaller proportion than for jelly. Fruit lacking flavor may be improved by moderate use of spice.
Firm, solid marmalade, cut in strips and rolled in sugar, may form an agreeable addition to a box of homemade candy. In England, experiments have been tried of packing fruit pulp, cooked with sugar, in brick form, when it will keep indefinitely in a wrapping of waxed paper. For use, these fruit bricks may be reduced with water as desired.
Jelly.
The ideal jelly is transparent, of uniform con sistency throughout, firm enough to come from the glass in one mass and retain its shape, but with a quivering texture which divides readily and with out any approach to gumminess. Some fruits are not adapted to jelly-making, though ambitious housewives, wishing to display a great variety, attempt to utilize all kinds of fruits. This effort is often the cause of failure to secure perfect jellies. Good results may be obtained from combi nation of fruits, one giving consistency, another !la vor.