1254 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



pectin, adding a sufficient quantity of the natural juice of the fruit for 

 flavoring and acidity, then proceeding to make jelly as with any fruit. 

 The process is approximately as follows: The yellow outer skin of the 

 fruit being carefully and entirely peeled off, the white inner skin is removed 

 from the inner juicy portion; this white inner skin is passed through a fine 

 meat-grinder, soaked two to twenty-four hours in sufficient water to 

 cover, then cooked slowly for some hours and drained. This Extraction I 

 is particularly rich in pectin. Subsequent extractions all show pectin, 

 but in constantly decreasing amounts. These extractions may be con- 

 centrated and mixed with the first extraction if desired. To the whole, a 

 sufficient amount of the natural juice is added to give a pronounced flavor, 

 and it is then made into jelly the same as any other juice, due care being 

 taken not to use an excess of sugar. If the thin yellow outer skin of the 

 fruit has been carefully removed, there will be little, if any, bitter taste 

 to these jellies. 



If desired, the white inner skin of oranges and lemons may be used as a 

 source of pectin to add to other fruits that are more or less deficient in 

 this important substance. For example, some excellent rhubarb jelly was 

 made in the kitchen of this department by adding to the cooked-out 

 rhubarb juice a pectin extraction obtained as indicated from lemons. 



For such purposes in general, it is suggested that the white inner skins 

 of oranges and lemons be saved from time to time, cut into fine pieces 

 and dried, then later soaked up and used as desired. Hence, what is 

 usually a waste product, but what has been found to be an abundant 

 source of pectin, may be used by the thrifty housewife in numberless ways 

 to help out in her jelly-making. 



It may be worth while to note in this connection that the thicker-skinned 

 the oranges, the greater the yield of pectin that can be obtained from 

 them. 



blueberry jelly 



Mention should be made of blueberry jelly — certainly not a common 

 jelly, so far as the writer knows. Examination of the blueberry shows a 

 pulp exceedingly rich in pectin, one that will stand several extractions. 

 Although the juice is fairly sweet to taste, yet it is sufficiently acidic to 

 yield jelly of excellent texture even when the proportion of sugar to juice 

 (Extraction I) is i: i. With this proportion of sugar, the total time of 

 making the jelly need not exceed lo minutes. 



The blueberry as a jelly fruit seems quite equal to the currant, with this 

 difference in the jellies: whereas each is delicious, currant jelly is tart to 

 the taste, while blueberry jelly is sweet; hence, they may be used for 

 different purposes in the menu. 



