SC - a question

[THLRenata at aol.com]

Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book has a wonderful jam recipe (page 128 for
those who own the book):

To Preserve Plums or Gooseberries
Take to every pound of plums a pound of sugar, then beat it smal, & put so
much water to it as  will wet, then boyle till it bee sugar againe, then put
in the plums, & let them boile very softlie, till they be doone, then when
they bee cold put them up, if they begin to grow then set them where fireis in
a cupboard; you may doe respis this way & gooseberries, but you must boyle
them verie soft , & not put the up till they bee cold, & likewise may Cherries
bee doone as your gooseberries & respis.

Hilary Spurling has redacted the recipe:

Moisten the sugar with as little water as possible, say a quarter to half a
pint per pound, put it in a large thick-bottomed pan, and stir it over the
gentlest possible heat without boiling until it is dissolved. "Boyle till it
bee sugar againe" means boil the syrup hard until it reaches what cooks of the
period call "candie height" (240 degrees F, 115 degrees C on a sugar
thermometer), when it will chrystalize if you beat it.

I (this is Renata again) have made this several times with a variety of fruit
and it's scary but it works. You end up with a pan full of hot rock candy,
then just dump your fruit in and let it sit over the lowest possible heat. The
juice from the fruit re-melts the sugar, and needs an occassional stir and/or
chipping sugar away from the sides of the pan.

By the time the sugar has totally remelted, the jam is ready to set (test this
by putting a drop on a cold plate and pushing it -- if it forms a skin that
wrinkles, it's ready to set) without ever boiling the fruit, which improves
the flavor. 

The resulting jam is wonderful, and a hot water bath is not necessary, as the
high sugar content keeps the jam form spoiling. 

If it works for respis (raspberries) it should work for mulberries. How lucky
you are that you have enough to consider jam. The house where I grew up had a
mulberry tree and we used to love the berries it produced. None ever lasted
long enough for jam, tho.

Renata

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