Serial one-shot column " " Captivated / Part 3 Erika Kobayashi Captivated by "Sugarcane Jelly"
While I was reading the biography of Madame Curie, the scientist and the person who coined the term "radioactivity," I came to a point where I couldn't help but stop turning the page.
It was a quotation from her notes written just before the monumental discovery of radium in 1898. Her cooking notes were quoted right before the description that radium, an as yet unknown radioactive substance, must contain enormous amounts of radioactivity.
It says that they prepared four kilograms each of currants and brown sugar and made fourteen jars full of delicious currant jelly.
Radium and gooseberry jelly were extracted and made by the same woman!
I was amazed, and the thought suddenly dawned on me that I wanted to try this currant jelly myself.
Of course, using the same recipe she used in 1898!
Luckily, the title of the cookbook was written there, so I was able to find the book using the French title as a guide.
I assume that the cookbook she had in her hands was "La Cuisinière bourgeoise" by Menon, first published in 1746.
(Part of the book has been translated into Japanese and published by Kokusho Kankokai as "The Taste of Happiness: Eating and Loving (18th Century Series)" and "The Dining Table of Townspeople.")
This cookbook was extremely popular from the 18th to the 19th centuries, and it seems that every bride into a middle-class family would have one.
I came across the cookbook and sure enough, there was a recipe for gooseberry jelly.
(It hadn't been translated into Japanese so I had to ask a friend to translate it for me) And so, together with the artist L PACK , I was finally able to recreate the flavor I had dreamed of.
Refining sugar?! I've heard that you have to put your finger in the pot and water to make sure the sugar doesn't turn into caramel, but your finger?! Can't you just use a thermometer?!
Despite the many obstacles of the 18th century, he managed to get the currants into the pot.
Complete!
So, how does it taste?
The resulting "currant jelly" was served to everyone at the LPACK breakfast meeting (Note 1), held at the Yokohama Creative City Center (YCC) during the Yokohama Triennale 2014.
Making currant jellyL PACK, photos and text by Erika Kobayashi (c)L PACK Erika Kobayashi
Erika Kobayashi
Author and manga artist. Her book "Breakfast with Madame Curie" (Shueisha) was nominated for the 27th Mishima Yukio Prize and the 151st Akutagawa Prize.
His works include comics about the history of "radioactivity," such as "Children of Light 1" and "Dear Kitties" (both published by Little More), and a collection of his works, "I Can't Forget" (Seidosha), among others.
She released "Radium Girls 2011" as Project UNDARK and is also active as a member of the unit kvina .
Note 1: This is a regular LPACK project that asks, "Let's say you wake up earlier than usual and have breakfast."
