SC - Re: Fruit Conserves

[Elise Fleming]

Karin wrote:

>Basically, the fruit seems to have been saturated with sugar, until
>it attains an almost tough jelly like state ( jelly bean rather than 
>jello ), sometimes it is then shaped into small fruit shapes, other 
>times it still seems to be the basic fruit. The texture is still quite 
>'solid' which seems to me that the fruit hasn't been pureed and 
>reformed, but that it is done by a similiar method to candying peel.

I'm not sure about the not-pureeing and then being boiled up like candy 
peel.  However, there are a number of fruit pastes which give a "tough 
jelly" or a nice paste, depending on one's skill, etc.  Here are two 
I've used successfully (sometimes tough, sometimes nice paste, 
sometimes it didn't set).  Also, it seems that one can't really 
substitute different fruits in certain recipes.  I don't recall the 
fruits now (it was a few years back) but the substituted fruit didn't 
set up into the paste as the original fruit did.

Sir Kenelm Digby, The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Opened, 3rd edition, 
1677

Sweet-Meats of my Lady Windebanks

She maketh a past of Apricocks (which is both very beautiful and clear, 
and tasteth most quick of the fruit) thus.  Take six pound of pared and 
sliced Apricocks, put them in a high pot, which stop close, and set it 
in a kettle of boiling water, till you perceive the flesh is all become 
a uniform pulp; then put it out into your preserving pan or possenet, 
and boil it gently till it be grown thick, stirring it carefully all 
the while.  Then put two pound of pure Sugar to it, and mingle it well, 
and let it boil gently, till you see the matter come to such a 
thickness and solidity, that it will not stick to a plate.  Then make 
it up into what form you will.  The like you may do with Raspes or 
Currants.

Redaction from 'Banquetting Stuffe' edited by C. Anne Wilson, chapter 
4, Rare Conceits and Strange Delightes by Peter Brears.  (Edinburgh 
University Press, Edinburgh, 1986, ISBN 0 7486 0103 1)

8 oz (225 g) (when prepared) peeled and stoned apricots
3 oz (75 g) sugar (Alys: 1/2 cup; 1 lb. apricots to 1/3 lb. sugar)

Place the apricots in a heatproof jar, seal the top with a piece of 
cooking foil, and stand in a covered saucepan of boiling water for an 
hour.  Pour the apricots into a small saucepan and gently boil, 
stirring continuously until the paste is extremely thick, then add the 
sugar and continue stirring.  When it is so thick that it has to be 
spread across the bottom of the pan with a spoon, it may be turned on 
to a lightly greased plate, worked into a shallow square block, and 
allowed to cool.  It has a deep orange colour, and is every bit as good 
today as Sir Kenelm found it three centuries ago.

Alys Katharine's revision:  (1 lb. apricots to 1/3 lb. sugar.   Ten 
apricots (2-2 1/2") are slightly under one pound when peeled and 
stoned.)

Slice the apricots, place in cooking container (Corningware 1 3/4 quart 
pan holds a little over 2 lbs. of apricots).  Seal with foil and rubber 
band for extra security.  Place in large pot, or larger Corningware 
container.  If you put a lid on the outer container you needn't top it 
off with boiling water as quickly.  Add boiling water and set on burner 
at simmer for a good two hours.  The apricots should have fallen into a 
mush by then.

To peel apricots easily, place them in boiling water for about two 
minutes and then remove them.  The skins should peel off easily with a 
knife or your fingers.  If you let them stay in the boiling water too 
long they begin to cook and get mushy under the skin.  You can also 
just slice the apricots without peeling them.  After they have cooked 
for two or more hours, puree them in a blender.  It is best to use a 
thick pan for cooking the pureed apricots and sugar.  If you simmer 
them on a low heat you need not stir them continuously until the 
mixture begins to thicken and erupt into "burps."  This "cooking down" 
process can take 4 hours or so depending on the amount of apricots you 
use and the temperature of the heat.  You will need to stir the mixture 
more and more as it gets thicker.  The apricots are done when you can 
drag your spoon through the mixture and it leaves a trail.  It should 
also be pulling away from the sides of the pan at this time.

While this recipe doesn't call for a sugar syrup, you can make one by 
taking an amount of sugar, wetting it enough to dissolve the sugar, and 
heating it to hard crack stage.  Add it to the apricots, stirring as 
you add it.  Then cook the mixture down over low heat until you can 
make a trail with your spoon.  Pour into shallow, buttered pans and 
allow to cool.  You can cut them into squares or into shapes using 
small cookie or canape cutters.  Store between waxed paper or parchment 
paper.   With proper storage they will keep for a year or so.

TO MAKE A PASTE OF PEACHES, #S112, A Booke of SweetmeatsMartha 
Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess, Columbia 
University Press, New York, 1981, ISBN 0-231-04930-7Take peaches & 
boyle them tender, as you did your apricocks, & strayne them.  then 
take as much sugar as they weigh & boyle it to candy height.  mix ym 
together, & make it up into paste as you doe yr other fruit.  soe dry 
them and use it at your pleasure.Peel and slice peaches.  Bring them to 
a boil over medium heat in a thick pan.  Cover pan, stirring 
occasionally.  Add a little rosewater if desired.  (The previous recipe 
for apricots includes rosewater.)  Cook for approximately two or two 
and a half hours until they are fully soft and "tender."  I have pureed 
them in a blender but that leaves a good deal of water to cook off.  
Try pouring off the excess liquid through a sieve or strainer.  Puree 
the remaining pulp.  (Save the liquid for other uses.)  Weigh the pulp 
and take the same amount in sugar.  (Approximately 2 1/4 cups 
granulated sugar equal one pound.)  Gently boil down the pulp until it 
is thick.  When the pulp is as thick as it can get and not burn, boil 
up the sugar with a small amount of water.  Hess identifies candy 
height as soft ball or 220 F.  A modern recipe for fruit paste says to 
boil to hard ball or 260 F.  I have found that hard ball or even to 
almost hard crack works best.  Pour the sugar syrup into the cooked 
pulp and stir until thoroughly mixed.  Continue cooking the paste until 
it leaves the side of the pan and you can draw a line in it with the 
spoon.  Be careful that it doesn't burn at the final stages, nor that 
you burn yourself with splatters of boiling pulp.  Pour it onto a 
buttered cookie sheet with sides and let it cool.  If it doesn't 
solidify to a paste that you can cut try one of the following.  Let it 
sit for several days to dry out.  Put it into a warm oven to dry out.  
Scrape it all back into a pan and re-boil to drive off more water.  You 
can also make up more sugar syrup, but be sure to go to the hard crack 
stage before adding it to the paste.

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