SC - Jellies vs. aspics

[Christine A Seelye-King]

>First, several fruits have large amounts of pectin in them. Crab 
>apples and currants immediately come to mind. Neither of these fruits
would have needed sweeteners to "help" the pectin do it's thing. What
sweetening was  needed could be accomplished with honey.>Ras<snip>

Many years ago, we had an event called "Cook's List".  It was set up as a
tounament with 14 entrants.  We had a deadline to submit our recipies,
and each of us had to submit an article as well, as the event was a
fundraiser for the Chronicler's office, and a cookbook was also published
after the event.  The "List" was layed out to start at 10AM.   Every hour
on the hour, three different cooks put out a dish.  This went on until
the last set of dishes was served, at 11PM!  The dishes were put before
the panel of judges, who tasted and judged based on documentation, taste,
presentation, and Best in Category.    After the judges had finished, the
food was placed on the central table in the hall, and the populace was
welcomed to come in and sample what they liked.  As the menu was posted
with the times in advance, one could check out the lay of the land and
see what they wanted to be there for, when they could go swimming, take a
nap, etc.  (There was an all-day long Civiliztion game played as I
recall).  The incredible thing was, as the day went on, the more
ravenously the populace hit the table as each new round came out!  It was
amazing.  And, a good time was had by all.  Now, as to why I snipped the
bit about the jellies, one of my entries was from Sir Kenelme Digby's 'A
Closet Opened'.  It was for 'Pipins in Jelly'.  It called for pippins
sliced, and placed in  water and boiled .  Strain off the liquor, and
reserve it until morning.  Boil Orange and Lemon peele, and dry them
overnight.  Take refined white sugar ("Then take of double refined and
finely beaten and searced Sugar...") a pound to every pint of Pippin
liquor, plus 10 ounces of pippins, and boil it all together , adding
lemon and the sugar gradually as it boils, till it is clear (after
skimming the scum) and has become jelly.  Take the pippins and orange and
lemon peel, arrange in glasses, and pour the jelly over them.  Sounds
simple enough, I thought, but I missed out on one important thing. 
Pippins are apples, but not like the apples in the grocery store.  They
are smaller, and have 	LOTS MORE PECTIN IN THEM!  I added so much
gelatin to make the stuff gel, it wasn't funny.  In the end, it was a
beautiful dish (clear amber jelly with slices of apples and lemon and
orange peels delicately spiraled among them, done in a shallow glass
bowl) and it tasted just great.  But, I learned my lesson about food
items.  The earlier Pippins had the chemical makeup to make this dish
work, that modern apples just didn't have!  Had I figured it out in
advance, I might have added some pectin to produce the effect instead of
gelatin.  As it was, I have a wonderful story to illustrate that point
when I am teaching food classes in the SCA.  
Plus, there's your clear fruit jelly!  
Christianna

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