The magic of wobble // A short history of jelly. Part III
If you haven’t been following along this corner of the internet, I have been looking into the historical methods of jelly making over the last several weeks and this is going to be the third and final part. In the first part I looked at jellies that derived from animal products, in the second jellies made from gums, seaweeds and lichen, and today I will look at different starches and pectin.
Starches
I will be honest. I don’t count starch set liquids as jellies, in fact I hardly use any form of starch to thicken anything. I prefer cream and egg yolks to do that job. Yes, there are recipes that use things like arrowroot, tapioca and cornflour to set puddings and jellies, but from my understanding that was more because historically starches were a more economical alternative to gelatin and the aforementioned yolks and cream. When starches are used to thicken something in my mind it falls more in the realm of custards and puddings, no matter what the Oxford Companion to Food says. If you wish to learn more about jellies set with different starches, I will recommend Peter Brears book on jellies and their moulds (full title in the source listing below). Maybe sometime in the future I will decide to look more into the subject and add more information here, but for now I will just create a short reference about the types of starches that can be used.
Starch is a carbohydrate that plants produce and store as their food reserve. Depending on the plant, it can be stored in different places – in seeds (as is the case of corn or wheat), in roots (such as potatoes or arrowroot) or stems (like sago).
To understand the gelatinization, I have mention the structure of starch. They are made from molecular chains that are folded very tightly together. When it is heated the structure loosens and becomes porous which in turn allows to it absorb large amount of liquid. Once the mixture cools down however the molecules connect back to a solid form. For example, during the baking of a loaf of bread the starch will swell and gel between the gluten strands, which will help to support the structure. However not all starches gel the same way and just like gums each have different qualities that yields different textures and uses.
Oatmeal Flummery recipe from Hannah Glasse cookbook The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1796)
I have sorted all starches into three groups. First is the cereals, which consists of wheat, corn, rice and oats. Each one of them can be processed various ways and yield different results. When looking at old recipes, you can find numerous names for each cereal (or part of it) having only being slightly differently processed. For example, wheat can be hidden under the names amydon, bran, farola, manna and semolina.
Tapioca pudding recipe from The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beeton (1861)
Next group is roots. Here you can find tapioca, arrowroot and potato. Tapioca comes from the Cassava plant and arrowroot from Maranta arundinacea. Both roots must be cleaned, washed and ground to a pulp. The pulp then in soaked in water, changing it often till it remains clear. It is done to get rid of impurities. Lastly the excess water is squeezed out and the pulp is dried and powdered. Tapioca also comes as pearled tapioca. It is made by adding tapioca flour to boiling sugar water and coking it until you get a paste, which is then shaped into small balls. Pearled tapioca can be made into a pudding, by first boiling them in liquid of your choice until they become translucent, then adding eggs and cooking until you achieve the desired consistency. Nowadays it is also often used in a popular Asian drink called bubble tea. All three starches can be used interchangeably in a pinch however the results can be slightly different. I have liked a nice blogpost that explains the difference between tapioca and arrowroot flour and when they should be used.
Sago and apple pudding recipe from Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery, 1892
Lastly we have stems where you can find sago. It is a starch that is harvested from the pith of various tropical palms. It is then ground and purified by repeatedly washing and drying. Just like most starches it is used to thicken puddings and soups. Europeans have known about sago since the 16th century, however only in 18th century it was started to be imported. When first introduced to the Europeans it was highly regarded and valued for its delicate flavour. One of the most distinctive qualities of sago is its shape and translucent pearl like appearance, which gives a texture that a lot of people don’t particularly care for. When boiled it produces a jelly like texture that can set depending on how much additional liquid has been added. It can be used in different kinds of puddings – baked, boiled and set puddings.
Alright, there is another group where you can find bread and biscuits. As far as I have noticed, the recipes that use these thickeners generally used them to make nourishment for the sick.
Recipes for Apple Marmalade and Quince jelly from The Royal English and Foreign Confectioner by Charles Francatelli (1862)
Pectin
Lastly we have jellies made with pectin. You know how the yankydoodles across the pond always call jams jellies? I have always dismissed that as another of their quirks, but here they might have a point.
Pectin is a carbohydrate that can be found in fruits and vegetables and is the main setting agent in fruit jellies. It comes from pectose in unripe fruits which in turn transforms into pectin as the fruit ripens. Fruits have the most pectin in them just before they are fully ripe, however once past that point the pectin turns in pectin acid. Both pectose and pectin acid doesn’t have the setting ability which makes this kind of jelly making rather difficult. Some fruits contain higher amounts of pectin hence make better jellies (like apples and citrus fruits) and some fruits have very little (like figs or blueberries). Traditionally if you wished to make jelly with low pectin fruits, then you would have mixed in fruits high in pectin. Today however you can simply buy it in packets in grocery stores or mixed with sugar, that has been formulated for jam making.
So this concludes my little three part article of different jelly making methods. Now all there is to do is to apply this information in practice.
Sources
Books
Beeton, Isabella, The Book of Household Management, S. O. Beeton, 1861
Brears, Peter, Jellies and their moulds, Prospect Books, 2010
Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery, Cassell Petter & Galpin, 1892
Davidson, Alan, The Oxford Companion to Food, Oxford University Press, 3rd Edition, 2014
Francatelli, Charles, The Royal English and Foreign Confectioner, Chapman & Hall, 1862
Glasse, Hannah, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, 1796
Internet
https://www.britannica.com/science/starch (article accessed on 21st March, 2021)
https://pickyourown.org/pectin_levels_in_fruit.php (article accessed on 1st April, 2021)
https://agirlworthsaving.net/arrowroot-vs-tapioca/ (article accessed 1st April, written 4th February, 2015 and updated 5th November, 2021)
