Golden Chips, and other Preserves
Query 1184. --Mrs. D. A. G., Jamesville, N. Y.: “Recipes for preserve called golden chips, apple ginger, and mint jelly that will keep indefinitely.”
Golden Chips (Orange)
Cut the oranges in quarters, and carefully press the quarters on a sieve or grater, to remove all the juice and edible pulp. Put the peel to soak in salted water (a tablespoonful to a quart) over night. The next day drain and boil in fresh water until tender. Again drain the peel, then cut into slices, and add to the juice. Take sugar equal in weight to that of the juice and peel. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until the syrup candies on the peel. Then set the peel aside in a cool place to dry.
Golden Chips (Pumpkin)
Cut a small, sweet pumpkin in halves, and the halves into narrow strips. Remove peel and seeds, then cut the strips into thin slices, not more than half an inch thick. Weigh the prepared pumpkin, and take an equal weight of sugar, also half a cup of lemon juice, to each two pounds of sugar. Put the pumpkin and sugar into a preserving kettle in alternate layers. Pour the lemon juice over the whole, cover, and let stand twenty-four hours. Have ready the lemon peel, neatly shredded, and an ounce of ginger root for each pound of fruit. Add these to the kettle with a cup of water for each three pounds of sugar. Cook until the pumpkin is tender, then pour into an earthen jar. In a few days pour the syrup from the pumpkin. Boil to reduce and thicken it, and pour, hot, over the pumpkin.
Gingered Apples
For five pounds of prepared apple allow five pounds of granulated sugar, five ounces of ginger root, three lemons, and a pint of water. Bruise the ginger root, and put it over the fire with the water. Let it simmer some hours, adding water, when needed, to get a strong decoction of ginger. Wipe the lemons carefully, then grate off the thin yellow rind, and extract the juice. Add these to the pint of ginger water. Remove the pieces of ginger from the water, or tie them in a muslin cloth, and let them remain till the confection is finished. Add the sugar and the apple. Select tart apples, pare and core, then chop them rather coarse. Boil the whole until the bits of apple look clear. The store in jar.
Mint Jelly (Mint-Apple)
Greenings are a good variety of apple for this purpose. Wipe the apples, and remove defective places, but do not core them. Cut in halves or quarters. Put over the fire with water barely to the top of the apple. Let cook until the fruit is tender throughout. About twenty minutes before the cooking is completed, have ready, for two pounds of apple, the leaves from two bunches of mint, washed, dried, and chopped fine. Stir these into the apple. Finish cooking at a gentle simmer, then drain through a jelly bag. Allow three-fourth a cup of sugar to each cup of juice. Put the juice over the fire to boil and the sugar in the oven to heat. When the juice has boiled ten minutes, add the juice of one lemon and green color (liquid) to get the required shade, also the sugar. Let the whole boil till a little jellies on a cold plate (probably less than five minutes), then strain into hot glasses. For a stronger flavor of mint, use more of the green mint. Two pounds of apples should yield a pint of juice by draining and another pint by pressure.
(The Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science and Domestic Economics, p. 253-254, 1907)
