Jelly has been a very popular dish throughout history and not only among dieters. In fact, past generations knew nothing about calories. With the exception of Mediterranean countries, daily regimes were based on animal fat: whole milk, butter and eggs were added to sweet and savory dishes so long as people could afford it and the only reason for abstinence from certain foods was Lent. Jelly broth, on the other hand, was famously prescribed for the sick. The gelling agent to use would be derived from animal parts (think cows, pigs, deer, and fish) in Britain and most of Europe, or seaweed in Japan and Southeastern Asia. Medieval, Renaissance and Early Modern cookbooks abound in recipes for broth as well as, since at least the 17th century, gelatinous desserts in various shapes and colours. The shaking and quaking jellies of old times are sometimes featured in period dramas -like the 2003 film adaptation of Girl with the Pearl Earring, in which the head cook Tanneke unmolds a lovely jelly for Jan Vermeer's feast.
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| Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665 |
In Early Modern recipes, calves' feet were boiled for hours to make jelly. Lemon juice, beaten egg whites, isinglass from the air bladder of sturgeon and/or hartshorn were often added with excellent results. Jelly broth was also flavored with genenours amount of sugar and spices that was believed to aid digestion and restore the invalid's health. The following instructions give a clear idea about the use of gelling agents:
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Or take half a pound of harts-horn grated, and a good capon being finely cleansed and soaked from the blood, and the fat taken off, truss it, and boil it in a pot of pipkin with the harts-horn, in fair spring water, the same things as the former, _&c._"
Gelatinous desserts were based on more or less the same ingredients. Natural coloring and ironcast molds were also used in this case so the finished jellies would impress the guests -as did the custard jellies of milk, almonds & rosewater at Henry VIII's banquets. Also known as blancmange, these lovely puddings were referenced in historic cookbooks until the 19th century. Old-fashioned blancmange recipes used chicken breast as well as milk but there were other versions you could make with rice or corn flour. Ottoman Turkish equivalents were called tavuk göğsü and muhallebi (or kazandipi, which is type of crème brûlée). Custard jellies, including blanchmange, were thickened with calves' feet, hartshorn or isinglass until gelatin powder was manufactured in the 19th century. Interestingly, fruit jelly in historic recipes of Middle-eastern origin are thickened with cornstarch.
Jelly was also used as filling in cakes, puddings, biscuits, and tarts. Famous desserts, such as the English trifle, were partly made of jelly. Spiced versions became more rare in the 18th century, giving their place to fruit jellies. High-pectin fruits, including currants, oranges, and quinces, were already used for jams that were gelatinous enough though not as dense as Jell-O.
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