Fruit juice

“ CANNING FRUIT JUICES FOR JELLY.--During the canning season, when a great deal of such work is being done, the housewife often feels that making jelly and preserves is an extravagant use of sugar. Still, fruit juices left over from canning and large quantities of fruit, such as crab apples and currants, that are not suitable for other purposes, will be wasted unless they are used for jelly. If it is not convenient to use the fruit at the time it is obtained, a good plan is to extract the juice as for jelly making and then can it. ”

“ The preparation of various fruits or fruit juices with sugar is an important industry both for domestic purposes and for commerce in the United States. When the fleshy portion of the fruit is treated with sugar sirup and boiled, it produces the product known as preserves. When a fruit is reduced to a pulp and treated with sugar sirup and boiled, it makes a product known as jam. When the fruit juice itself is treated with sugar and boiled, it forms a product known as jelly. ”

“ Any of the fruit juices are good, particularly the juices from oranges, raisins, prunes, apples, pears, and cranberries. All these juices are better cooked than raw with the exception of orange juice. All children should have some fruit juice every day. For the very young baby the juices are strained through a wire strainer and a clean cheesecloth so as to remove every particle of solid matter, and there should be added an equal amount of cold, boiled water for the infant under ten months. ”

“ The juice of oranges, pineapples, California grapes, cherries, blackberries or tomatoes may be given. The tomatoes may be made into broth and strained, but nothing is to be added to this broth except salt. Stout people should do well on fruit juices. They are not to be so highly recommended for very thin, nervous people, for fruit juices are both thinning and cooling. Milk is very useful, and may be given either sweet or clabbered or in the form of buttermilk. ”

“ The old rule holds good—a pound of sugar to a pint of juice. Cook fifteen to twenty minutes. Fruit juice will jell more quickly if the sugar is heated in the oven before being added.
For preserving fruit, use about 3⁄4 of a pound of sugar to 1 pound of fruit and seal in air-tight glass jars.
For canning fruit, use from 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 the quantity of sugar that you have of fruit.
When making jelly, too long cooking turns the mixture into a syrup that will not jell. Cooking fruit with sugar too long a time causes fruit to have a strong, disagreeable flavor. ”

“ For instance, the richer, sweeter, and better in quality the fruit we use, the richer, sweeter, and better will be our unfermented juice. If, on the other hand, the fruit is sour, green, and insipid, the juice will be likewise. ”

“ FRUIT AND OTHER SOUFFLÉS To the whipped whites of eggs may be added half the number of yolks and powdered sugar enough to sweeten, or chocolate, or any jam, or softened jelly, or fruit juice, or 140the pulp of any fruit with the juice drained off. Fruit must be pressed through a purée sieve to make the pulp fine and soft. ”

“ They are composed very largely of water, perhaps 80 percent or more. The solid matter consists of the usual cellulose structure of vegetable bodies, sugars, gums, organic acids, and mineral matters. Fruits are all succulent, that is, by reason of their high content of water, composed chiefly of matters in solution which constitute their juices. All fruits, therefore, when subjected to pressure yield a juice which contains the principal portion of their dietetic constituents. The study of the composition of the fruit juices would, therefore, naturally accompany a study of the fruits themselves. ”

“ Do not be afraid to give the orange juice because it is acid, for it splits up quickly in the stomach and is rearranged, forming alkaline salts. It is the fruit that can be obtained at nearly all seasons. It is best to get mild oranges and strain the juice. The fruit is to be in prime condition. Instead of orange juice, the juice of raw celery, spinach, cabbage, apples, blackberries and other juicy fruits and vegetables may be employed, but these juices must all come from fruits or vegetables that are in prime condition. No sugar is to be added to either the fruit or the vegetable juices. ”

“ CHERRIES PRESERVED WITH CURRANT JUICE. 12 quarts of cherries. 3 quarts of currants. 2 quarts of sugar.
Put the currants in the preserving kettle and on the fire. When they boil up crush them and strain through cheese cloth, pressing out all the juice.
Stem and stone the cherries, being careful to save all the juice. Put the cherries, fruit juice, and sugar in the preserving kettle. Heat to the boiling point and skim carefully. Boil for twenty minutes. Put in sterilized jars or tumblers. This gives an acid preserve. The sugar may be doubled if richer preserves are desired. ”

“ The digestibility of fruit is increased for some people by cooking. This is probably due to the softening of the fiber, to the destruction of any bacteria present, and in the case of the banana, to the cooking of the starch. Fruit juice can91 be taken by little children and invalids who might find the fiber troublesome. Some people cannot eat berries on account of irritation caused by the seeds. In this case, juice may be squeezed from cooked berries and used for beverages and jelly. ”

“ The manner of making use of fruits, preserved by the process I have pointed out, consists, 1st. in putting such fruit into a fruit jar, in the same state in which it is in the bottle, without adding any sugar, because many persons, more especially ladies, prefer fruits with their natural juice. At the same time I prepare another jar with a preserve of grape-syrup or powder sugar, for those who prefer it. I have [110] from experience learnt that grape-syrup preserves the aroma and agreeable acidity of fruits, much better than sugar. ”

“ In the fresh state the fruit is very aromatic, and the juicy pulp which it contains has an agreeable flavour, so that when mixed with water and sweetened, it forms a palatable refrigerant drink. The fruit is never eaten as dessert, though its pulp is sometimes made into a preserve with sugar.
The fruit of the wild tree is described as small, hard, and flavourless, remaining long on the tree. The bark of the stem and root, the flowers and the expressed juice of the leaves are used in medicine by the natives of India. ”

“ Those who like the combination may make a meal of fruit juice mixed with milk, half and half.
Grapes and strawberries, which are relished by most, disagree with some people. The skin of the Concord grape should be rejected, for it irritates many. If they are relished, the skins of most fruits may be eaten. When peeled apples lose a part of their flavor.
Olives are generally eaten pickled. The fruit in its natural state tastes very disagreeable to most people. The ripe olive is superior in flavor to the green, which is not usually relished at first. ”

“ Pour over the fruit a pint of pure alcohol. Tie up the jar with thick paper, and in season add peaches, apricots, raspberries, blackberries, large, red currants; in fact, all kinds of fruit. Green-gages and purple and red plums also add both to looks and taste. Be sure to add the same amount of sugar as you do fruit, but no more alcohol. In the fall of the year pack in glass jars; looks very pretty. Keep it in a dry, cool place. There is always a surplus of juice, which makes excellent pudding sauce. Add a little water and thicken. ”

“ Take a lemon or an orange, grate the rind with a tin grater, put the powder in a saucer, squeeze the juice of the fruit over it, mix it well together with a spoon, then boil some sugar very high, because what you put in it is a liquor, since it is the juice and the grating of the fruit mixt together lowers the sugar, which requires the sugar to be boiled a little higher for this sort of conserve than for the others: when your sugar is boiled to the proper height mix it in your composition, and proceed on just the same as directed for the other conserves. ”

“ Heaps of fruit are raised in an open part of the orchard, where, by means of a free air and less heat, the desired maturity is gradually effected, with an inconsiderable waste of the juice and decay of ths fruit, which thus becomes almost totally divested of rancidity. And though a few apples will rot even in this manner, they are still fit for use: all of them continue plump and full of juice, and heighten in a considerable degree the colour of the liquor, without imparting to it any disagreeable smell or taste. ”

“ The writer has often been asked what kind of grapes should be used in making unfermented grape juice, when, as a matter of fact, it can be made from any grape; not only this, but unfermented juice is made from other fruits as well, for instance, apples, pears, cherries—and berries of different kinds yield excellent juices. It is really good judgment in selecting the right varieties when planting for fruit production. That also determines the quality of our unfermented juice. ”

“ Where fruits are too dry to give out enough juice to cover them generously, a light syrup should be used. But with juicy fruits, avoid water if possible. A good rule in the case of small berries is to allow one third of a pound of sugar to each pound of fruit. ”

“ In the condemnation of so-called artificial beverages, an exception should be made of the fruit juices. The fresh, unfermented juices of various fruits come very near being pure, distilled water, as they consist of only a little fruit sugar and acid, together with small amounts of flavoring and coloring substances, dissolved in pure water. ”

“ There is this farther advantage in keeping the third common term, that it leaves us the words Succus, Jus, Juice, for other liquid products of plants, watery, milky, sugary, or resinous,—often indeed important to man, but often also without either agreeable flavor or nutritious power; and it is therefore to be observed with care that we may use the word 'juice,' of a liquid produced by any part of a plant, but 'nectar,' only of the juices produced in its fruit. ”

“ But the good and pleasure of fruit is not in the juice only;—in some kinds, and those not the least valuable, (as the date,) it is not in the juice at all. We still stand absolutely in want of a word to express the more or less firm substance of fruit, as distinguished from all other products of a plant. ”

“ Should the compote of fruits, as is often the case, be intended for a garden party, where it will have to stand a long time, if possible get a small bowl, like those in which gold and silver fish are sold in the street for sixpence, and fill this with ice and place it in the middle of the larger bowl containing fruit, otherwise the melted ice will utterly spoil the juice that runs from the fruit, which is sweetened with the syrup and flavoured with the brandy. If much brandy be added, old ladies at garden parties will be found to observe that the juice is the best part of it. ”

“ Lay in a glass bowl and sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar. No fruit should be sweetened till just before eating. Ornament the edges of the bowl with any handsome, glossy leaves convenient, and serve with cream.—Mrs. S. T. 443
Strawberries
Should never be washed unless sand or earth adheres to them. Cap carefully while the first course is being served, or, if more convenient, you may cap in the morning, but never sweeten till just before eating, as sweetening long beforehand extracts the juice and makes the fruit tough. Set it on ice, or in a refrigerator. No ice must be put on fruit. ”

“ This is especially true if the season has been a dry one and the fruits are neither very sour nor very juicy. After a wet season or with very sour or very juicy fruits, it will usually be necessary to use 1 cupful of sugar to each cupful of juice. ”

“ Many of the fruits, both dried and fresh, combine well with cereals. Care must be taken, however, to follow such acid fruits as Currants, Cherries, Oranges, and Grapefruit, with meat or egg dishes, omitting the cereal, as the starch and acid are very likely to fight with each other when once inside, to the inconvenience of the non-combatant. A fruit which for any reason tastes “flat” can be instantly improved in flavor and tonic quality by a sprinkle of lemon-juice. ”

“ The uses of apples are very extensive, and even the crab-tree is not without its use. The fruit is indeed small, and bad to the taste; but its fermented juice, which is called verjuice, is sometimes employed in cookery, occasionally in medicine, and frequently by wax-chandlers, for the purifying of wax. Dr. Withering conceives that, with a proper addition of sugar, a grateful liquor might be made from the juice of crabs, little inferior to hock. ”

“ To preserve both the true flavour and the colour of fruit in jams and jellies, boil them rapidly until they are well reduced, before the sugar is added, and quickly afterwards, but do not allow them to become so much thickened that the sugar will not dissolve in them easily, and throw up its scum. In some seasons, the juice is so much richer than in others, that this effect takes place almost before one is aware of it ”

“ The sweet and mellow kinds form a valuable addition to the dessert. A great part of the acid juice is converted into sugar as the fruit ripens, and even after it is gathered, by natural process, termed maturation; but, when apples decay, the sugar is changed into a bitter principle, and the mucilage becomes mouldy and offensive. Old cheese has a remarkable effect in meliorating the apple when eaten ”

“ Salicylic acid, benzoic acid, and saccharin are used to preserve fruits. The last is also added as a sweetener instead of sugar. Many fruit products lose their color with age, and to give them a lasting color they are treated with a coal-tar dye, cochineal, acid magenta, or caramel.
A very small per cent of the jams and jellies sold are strictly pure. These cheap products are made up principally of apple juice and commercial glucose; artificial essences are added to imitate the real flavor. ”