Jelly, jam, and preserves

[major bill]

Today grape jelly, strawberry jam, and orange marmalade (preserves) are the most popular. However, what was popular during the Civil War? Using cattle hooves to make gelatin dates back to the 1400s and gelatin was available during the Civil War, so was gelatin used to make jams or jellies during the Civil War.

Apples were a common fruit during the Civil War, so were there apple jams?

 

[lupaglupa]

I would be surprised if people were using gelatin in any style of preserves. Most people use fruits that have natural pectin to get the jelling necessary. Apples have a lot pectin and thus are easy to turn into jelly. Grapes have pectin in their skins - so grape jelly is made with the skins on. But other fruits, like berries, have little to no pectin and need it to be added. That's one reason you see quince bushes at old homesteads - quince are full of pectin! In fact, you can make pectin from quinces to add to fruits that have little pectin of their own. It would be interesting to find out when pectin was first sold commercially.

 

[ami]

I would imagine they made apple jelly, apples are full of sugar and pectin, they would have just needed water and time. I will be making apple jelly with the scraps I have from making apple sauce.

 

[donna]

They made many fruit jellies and jams. Have to look up some recipes.

 

[AshleyMel]

Our UDC Chapter cans pomegranate jelly and orange marmalade to sell. This year our talented ladies also canned pickled okra!
I make the fabric jar toppers and another lady does our labels!
I wasn't able to do any canning this year. I do enjoy it so much!

 

[AshleyMel]

Better late than never! I tried my hand at using frozen blackberries since summer berry season is sadly past. No pectin used. Just fruit and sugar.

 

[donna]

Looks delicious. Thanks for sharing with us.