[Sca-cooks] red currents

[Daniel & Elizabeth Phelps]

Here are the recipes I cited.  I've included first one from another source 
so as to compare with a similar recipe of Martha's.

"Penn Family Recipes, cooking recipes of William Penn's Wife Gulielma"

page 112 "Two make Quidany of Red Corants"

Take to one pint of the juice of Currants,
one quartor of a pint of the juce of Rasps
and to those you must put
one pound of fine Lofe sugar -
beaten and sifted very fine,
boyle it to a gelly
and while it is hot put it into glasses-

"Martha Washington's Book of Cookery"

recipe 205 page 356 "To Make Quidony of English Currans".

Take a pound of english currans & bruise them with ye back of a spoone, & 
put into the bruising halfe a pinte of fair water. then [streyne] ym and put 
[into] the liquor halfe a pound of clarified chogar, & soe boyle it up to 
its culler & thicknes.  then print it with ye moulds.  you may make Quidony 
of all kind of weak fruits, as rasberies, goosberries, mulberries, or ye 
like, without putting any water at all into them.  and you must boyle them 
quickley or else theyr culler.

recipe 213 page 360 "To Make Jelley of Red Currans"
When your currans are ripe, pick them form the stalks & grinde them in an 
alleblaster morter.  ye strayne ye Juice through a Jelley bagg, & take downe 
weight of them in double refin'd sugar beat very fine, & put to them 6 
spoonfulls of water.  soe boyle it up allmoste to a candy, then put in ye 
juice, with a good piece of Isinglass.  If your disserne ye currans not to 
be of a very good culler, you may put in a little soucheneale, but not to 
much, crushed with ye back of a spoon very small, & it well make a very fine 
culler.  it it boyle a pritty while, & ye let [it streyne through] ye Jelley 
bagg into your glasses.

recipe 215 "To Make Jelley of Currans".
Take ye weight of your currans in double refined sugar, and boyle ye sugar 
to A candy.  pick ye seeds out of ye currans, & strayne A little of ye Juice 
to them, & soe put them to yr candy.  rasberries are done ye same way.  Only 
you must put in ye Juice of curran berries or gooseberries to make it 
Jelley.  ye tittle page was mistaken, for this receipt is to prserve & not 
to make Jelley

Note the last line is a copyist's note remarking what has just been copied 
from a previous source.

recipe 59 page 262 "To Preserve Gooseberries or Curran Berries"
Take ye berries fresh from ye trees & pull them from from their stlks, ye 
clip of ye stalks & ye little black beards, then weigh them, & to a pound of 
any of them, take a pound of ye best lofe sugar, then stone ye fruit & put 
to ye sugar Just as much water as will wet it,  then boyle it to a candy 
height, or till it begins to hare, then put in ye fruit & let it boyle very 
fast, then try with a spoon if it will Jelley, & when it will [do so, pot] 
it up.  thus you may doe both red & white currans.

Daniel