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A HISTORY OF THE WORLD’S
Religions
A History of the World’s Religions bridges the interval between the founding of religions and their present state,
and gives students an accurate look at the religions of the world by including descriptive and interpretive details
from original source materials. Refined by over forty years of dialogue and correspondence with religious
experts and practitioners around the world, A History of the World’s Religions is widely regarded as the hallmark
of scholarship, fairness, and accuracy in its field. It is also the most thorough yet manageable history of world
religion available in a single volume. A History of the World’s Religions examines the following topics:
This fourteenth edition is fully updated throughout with new images and inset text boxes to help guide students
and instructors. Complete with figures, timelines and maps, this is an ideal resource for anyone wanting an
accessible and comprehensive introduction to the world’s religions.
David S. Noss taught in the Religion and Philosophy Department of Heidelberg College from 1950 until his
retirement in 1989, although he continued teaching students and advising faculty until his passing in 2010.
Religions
David S. Noss
Blake R. Grangaard
Fourteenth edition published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
The right of David S. Noss and Blake R. Grangaard to be identified as authors of this work has bee
asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
ix
C ONTENTS
Map ii
Preface xvii
Timeline xviii
xi
xii CONTENTS
Index 627
P REFACE
Now and then some wag might greet a new discov- • text boxes introduce “An Alternate View” of a
ery with, “They’re gonna have to rewrite the history religion’s origins
books!” It isn’t time to “rewrite” this book, but it is • material that interrupts the flow of the historical
time to update it and to take note of some suggested narrative now appears in shaded sidebars
changes to the story. In several places, the reader will
find text boxes labelled “An Alternate View.” Their What is not new to this edition is a change of
purpose is to acknowledge that history is always focus. The book remains a one-volume history of
being written and rewritten, learned and relearned, religions, directed to teachers and students. Two spe-
in light of new evidence and new interpretations of cial needs identified by John B. Noss in the first edi-
old evidence. These “Alternates” are not compre- tion continue to guide this composition: to include
hensive presentations but rather teasers to point the “descriptive and interpretative details from the orig-
interested students toward an area of their own pos- inal source materials” and “to bridge the interval
sible investigation. between the founding of religions and their present
state.”
I encourage readers to contact me with sug-
gestions or corrections. Special thanks to Heidel-
WHAT’S NEW TO THIS EDITION berg University colleagues Omar Malik and Marc
• updated statistics throughout are based on O’Reilly for many profitable conversations and val-
the Pew Research Center study, The Changing uable input. Thank you also to Eve Mayer, Rebecca
Global Religious Landscape, released in 2017 Shillabeer, Sarah Gore and their associates at Rout-
• maps have been updated to correct borders and ledge, Taylor and Francis group for their attention
population percentages to this project.
xvii
PART
1
Some Primal and
Bygone Religions
CHAPTER
1
Religion in Prehistoric and
Primal Cultures
Facts in Brief
N
one of us can hope to see the world through with the forces of nature than moderns can readily
the eyes of our prehistoric ancestors. We conceptualize. It is our habit to objectify: the sudden
pore over their cave paintings, their imple- storm is a product of colliding air masses; an eclipse
ments, the disposition of bodies and artifacts in their is a product of planetary orbits; the deceased grand-
burial sites, and we make conjectures. We do, how- father in a dream is a product of brain function. In
ever, have a clearer view of primal religions in our ancient or primal cultures, the storm, the eclipse,
own time. (The term primal is here used to refer to and the dream appear not as objects but as “others”
religions in an original state, that is, confined to a rel- in a subject-to-subject mode. In a profound sense,
atively small cultural setting, isolated, not branching this meant an enlargement of the scope of religious
from other religions, and “not exported.”) Although encounter. To understand such a worldview puts
there is no clear warrant for interpreting the probable special demands upon our powers of empathy.
intentions of prehistoric people by analogy to those
of more recent primal cultures, we find ourselves
taking note of parallels simply because there are no
alternative models to inform our suppositions. We I. BEGINNINGS: RELIGION IN
should view the analogies with caution.
Conjectures about prehistoric cultures and
PREHISTORIC CULTURES
observations of isolated primal cultures in the recent O ancient cousin,
past converge on one vital function of religion: the O Neanderthaler!
linking of the visible, everyday world with powerful What shapes beguiled, what shadows
unseen forces and spirits. In this regard, the lives of fled across
ancient peoples were far more intimately interwoven Your early mind?
CHAPTER 1 Religion in Prehistoric and Primal Cultures 3
Here are your bones, predecessors (Homo habilis, erectus, and heidelber-
And hollow crumbled skull, gensis)—though they left us shaped stone tools, weap-
And here your shapen flints—the last ons, fire pits, and collections of human skulls—did
inert not leave us a comparable amount of evidence.
Mute witnesses to so long vanished
strength.
The Old Stone Age
What loves had you,
What words to speak, NEANDERTHALS
What worships, TheNeanderthal people, who flourished from 230,000
Cousin? down to 30,000 years ago over an area stretching from
—J. B. Noss southern Spain across Europe to Hungary and Israel,
are regarded today as probably a separate species,
If we could find answers to these questions, they might replaced by Homo sapiens rather than blending into
help us determine when and how religion began. If it. Nevertheless, their graves furnish the earliest clear
the attribution “religious” requires evidence of regu- evidence of religious practice in the Old Stone Age.
larized practices apparently aimed at making sense of Some of the dead were given careful burial. Along-
the world and controlling nonhuman forces, then the side the bodies, which were usually in a crouching
Neanderthals may have been the first to be identifiabl position, there were food offerings (of which broken
religious. Perhaps they were not, but their immediate bones remain) and flint implements—hand axes, awls,
and chipped scrapers. It is generally assumed that such hazardous the existence of the Neanderthal people
objects were left to serve the dead in an afterlife. Other whom they replaced. In the warmer months, like the
grave offerings were less utilitarian and more purely Neanderthals before them, they lived a more or less
expressive: a body in the Shanidar cave in Iraq was nomadic life following their game; during the colder
covered with at least eight species of flowers! Ther seasons, they used caves and shelters or lean-tos
also are signs of other forms of ritualized veneration. under cliffs. They lived by gathering roots and wild
TheNeanderthals apparently treated the cave bear fruits and by hunting, their larger prey being bison,
with special reverence. They hunted it at great peril to aurochs, an occasional mammoth, and especially
themselves and seem to have respected its spirit even the reindeer and the wild horse. Evidence of their
after it was dead. They appear to have set aside cer- hunting prowess has been found at their open-air
tain cave bear skulls, without removing the brains—a camp, discovered at Solutré in south central France,
great delicacy—and also certain long (or marrow) where archaeologists have unearthed the bones of
bones, and to have placed them with special care in 100,000 horses, along with reindeer, mammoths, and
their caves on elevated slabs of stone, on shelves, or bison—the remains of centuries of feasting. The Cro-
in niches, probably in order to make them the center Magnons never tamed and domesticated the horse,
of some kind of ritual. Whether their bear cult, if it but they found it good eating. The horse, bearded and
was such, was a propitiation of the bear spirit during a small, moved in large herds, was highly vulnerable to
ritual feast, a form of hunting magic to ensure the suc- attack, and was not dangerous.
cess of the next hunt, or a sacrifice or votive offering to
some divinity having to do with the interrelations of
human and bear is a matter of conjecture.
Another subject of debate is the Neanderthal
treatment of human skulls. Some of the skulls are
found, singly or in series, without the accompaniment
of the other bones of the body, each decapitated and
opened at the base in such a way as to suggest that
the brains were extracted and eaten. The evidence
is inconclusive about whether the emptied skulls
were placed in a ritual position for memorial rites or
whether the Neanderthal people were headhunters
who ate the brains in some sacramental way of sacrifi
cial victims, the newly dead, or enemies to acquire the
soul force in them. The fact that not all bodies were
buried intact and that large bones of the human body
were often split open to the marrow suggests that
human cadavers were a source of food, whether or not
they were sometimes consumed in a ritual fashion.
When we come to the later and higher culture
levels of the Old Stone Age, beginning 30,000 years
ago—to the period of the so-called Cro-Magnon peo-
ple of Europe and their African and Asian peers—we
are left in less doubt about the precise nature of Old
Stone Age religious conviction and practice.
The Shaman of Les Trois Frères This Cro-Magnon
THE CRO-MAGNONS
shaman wears a costume made out of reindeer
The Cro-Magnons were members of the species antlers, the ears of a stag, eyes of an owl, beard
Homo sapiens, more fully developed in the direc- of a man, paws of a bear, tail of a horse, and a
tion of the species today and even somewhat taller patchwork of animal skins. The feet are human.
and more rugged than the modern norm. They came He is perhaps engaged in a hunting dance. (The
into a milder climate than that which had made so Print Collector/Alamy)
CHAPTER 1 Religion in Prehistoric and Primal Cultures 5
In a somewhat similar fashion as the Neander- as well—attempts to control events. That there were
thals, the Cro-Magnons buried their dead, choos- specialists among them who were magicians (or
ing the same types of burial sites, not unnaturally, even priests) seems beyond doubt. A vivid mural in
at the mouths of their grottos or near their shelters; the cavern of Les Trois Frères shows a masked man,
they surrounded the body, which was usually placed with a long beard and human feet, who is arrayed
under a protective stone slab, with ornaments such as in reindeer antlers, the ears of a stag, the paws of a
shell bracelets and hair circlets, and with stone tools, bear, and the tail of a horse, and probably represents
weapons, and food. Because some of the bones found
at the grave sites were charred, it is possible—but it is
conjecture—that the survivors returned to the grave
to feast with the dead during a supportive communal
meal. Of great interest is the fact that they practiced
the custom of painting or pouring red coloring mat-
ter (red ochre) on the body at burial, or at a later time
on the bones during a second burial.
a well-known figure in primal communities, the sha- Because the dead, or their bones, were covered with
man, a person who is especially attuned to the spirit red paint (symbolizing, no doubt, the redness of the
world and called upon to deal with it on behalf of lifeblood), the belief cannot have been less than that
others. Whether or not the shamans were the actual the dead survived in some real sense, although there
artists, they probably led in ceremonies that made may have been no conception of the survival of a
magical use of the paintings and clay figures. Just as nonphysical spiritual entity; whatever survived had
in primal cultures of today it is believed that an image a ghostly corporality and actual bodily needs and
or a picture can be a magical substitute for the object desires.
of which it is the representation, so the Cro-Magnons The Upper Paleolithic peoples also had a bear
may have felt that creating an image of an animal cult, not unlike that of the Neanderthals; they may
subjected it to the image maker’s power. The magical have wished to propitiate a bear god, or to keep it
use made of the realistic murals and plastic works of in a favorable frame of mind. If so, however, they
the Paleolithic era is suggested in several clear exam- also applied coercive measures (magic); as shown
ples. In the cavern of Montespan there is a clay figure by their murals and clay figures of bears, the clay
of a bear whose body is covered with representations images sometimes punctured with wounds and the
of dart thrusts. Similarly, in the cavern of Niaux, an painted figures spouting blood from mouth, nostrils,
engraved and painted bison is marked with rudely and body wounds, apparently in the death agony.
painted outlines of spears and darts, mutely indicat- Clearly, whatever religion they had was inextricably
ing the climax of some primeval hunt; evidently the combined with procedures designed to ensure hunt-
excited Cro-Magnon hunters (gathering before the ing success.
hunt? ) ceremonially anticipated and ensured their
success by having their leaders (shamans or priests?) The Middle Stone Age
paint representations of their hunting weapons upon
the body of their intended quarry, so vividly pictured This brings us to the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age
on the cave’s wall. (beginning about 10,000 bce ), the transitional age
that saw the vanishing of the ice sheet and a gradual
THE FECUND GODDESS-MOTHER
Another motif quite different from magic for the
hunt appears in Upper Paleolithic paintings and
carvings. Tiny sculpted figures of the human female,
usually four to six inches high, emphasized fecundity:
hips, buttocks, breasts, thighs, and vulva are sculpted
into an oviform fullness. In classifying goddess sym-
bols, Marija Gimbutas has called this creviced dou-
ble “the power of two”: intensified fertility. Cave
paintings also deal with fertility magic. One mural
shows mares in foal, and another, in the rock shel-
ter of Cogul, Spain, depicts nine women surrounding
a naked male, who seems to be either the subject of
a tribal initiation at puberty or the leader in a ritual
connected with fertility magic.
It thus appears that Paleolithic cultures employed
both fertility and hunting magic, with evident faith in Shrine from Çatal Hüyük, Central Anatolia In
their value as methods of control. this reconstruction of a structure from the seventh
millennium BCE, bulls’ heads stack up beneath
a “birthgiving goddess” (unseen). A symbol of
BURIAL CUSTOMS
fertility, the bulls may have served to assert or
The beliefs implicit in the burial customs of the strengthen the birth-giver’s powers. (Neolithic/
Cro-Magnons and related peoples of the Upper Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, Ankara, Turkey/De
Paleolithic period have direct religious significance Agostini Picture Library/G. Dagli Orti/Bridgeman Images)
CHAPTER 1 Religion in Prehistoric and Primal Cultures 7
shift from nomadic to village life. The nomadic been preserved, covered with crude symbols prob-
hunters, who stalked animals through the forests ably having magical significance, although this may
springing up behind the retreating ice caps and not afford a correct explanation of their use, because
continued to use Old Stone Age spears and cutting no one can at this distance be sure what they really
tools to kill and dismember their prey, were gradu- meant.
ally outnumbered and displaced by stationary tribes.
These tribes were able to supplement the meat sup- The Neolithic Age
plied by hunters and the berries, grain, fruits, and
edible plants gathered by women and children with The Neolithic age (7,000–3,000 bce ) is distinguished
fish caught by bone hooks and fiber nets, all of this by several revolutionary developments: early forms
in more or less fixed locations. The hunters, skill- of agriculture, with active tilling of the soil; domesti-
ful in their use of bows and arrows, were now aided cation of animals and their gathering into flocks and
by domesticated dogs that joined them in the hunt. herds; advances in the arts of pottery, plaiting, weav-
Fishermen, too, could now use dugout canoes to ing, and sewing; establishment of settled communi-
increase their catch. ties, accompanied by great growth in the population;
W. H. McNeill aptly suggests the new directions the building of permanent housing; the invention of
taken by religion at this time. wheeled carts; and the first surgery.
Further developments occurred in religion. The
A critical turn must have come when mythic mother goddess or great goddess of earlier
collectors of wild-growing grain came hunting cultures had been generally associated with
to understand that allowing a portion creation and regeneration. Now agriculture directed
of the seed to fall to the ground at har- its attention more closely to the miraculous earth.
vest time assured an increased crop in Female divine power went beyond the animal models
the following year. Perhaps this idea was of birthing and nurturing to watering, tending, and
connected with concepts of the spirit of protecting the whole world of vegetation: there were
the grain, propitiation of that spirit, and mistresses of waters and a vegetation goddess of the
the reward that befitted a pious har- pregnant earth. Studies of Old Europe (centered in
vester who left part of the precious seed the Balkans), conducted by Marija Gimbutas, reveal
behind.B a pantheon of mostly female deities subsequently
obscured, but not fully displaced, by later Indo-
It may have been that the mother goddess idea European patriarchal and gender-polarized views.
was extended to include her stimulation of the seed
springing from the soil in the form of edible plants, In Old Europe the world of myth was not
for the earth was early conceived to be a fertile and polarized into female and male as it was
productive mother. among the Indo-European and many
The relics of this age suggest an awe of nature— other nomadic and pastoral peoples of
numerous round symbols of the sun and moon; the steppes. Both principles were mani-
stones and pillars, which were probably venerated; fest side by side . . . The male god, the
and suggestions of star and primeval Dionysus, is
tree worship. The mingling of
“
saturated with a mean-
old fears with a certain sophis- The main theme of ing closely related to
tication rising from the power that of the Great God-
Goddess symbolism is the
obtained through the use of dess in her aspect of
new inventions is shown in mystery of birth and death the Virgin Nature God-
the fact that axes and spears and the renewal of life, not dess and Vegetation
were seemingly venerated Goddess. All are gods
only human but all life on
as fetishes. That magic had of Nature’s life cycle,
grown into a complex sys- earth and indeed in the whole
”
concerned with the
tem is suggested by the many Cosmos. —Marija Gimbutas C problem of death and
painted pebbles that have regeneration, and all
8 PART 1 Some Primal and Bygone Religions
are worshipped as symbols of exuber- a sneeze may be perceived as expelling a “spirit,” but
ant life. it may be a commonplace spirit, not one potent with
The pantheon reflects a society sacred significance.
dominated by the mother. The role Sacred potency may be either enlivening or
of woman was not subject to that of deadly, a power for quick good or bad, and it may be
a man, and much that was created one’s attitude toward it that will determine whether
between the inception of the Neolithic good or bad will ensue. Theproper approach therefore
and the blossoming of the Minoan civ- is with a sense of holy mystery, awe, and reverence.
ilization was a result of that structure in
which all resources of human nature,
feminine and masculine, were utilized to
. . . and today . . .
the full as a creative force.D
No one thinks of a sneeze as an awesome
We shall pick up the story of the Minoan civili- encounter with the spirit world. Yet the
zation in the next chapter. But to prepare for further demon-repelling “God bless you” response
study of the early development of religions we need to harks back to a view that, in ousting an irritat-
clarify some of the terms commonly in use. (It will be ing spirit, the soul might momentarily leave the
readily apparent that the same terms are also applica- body unguarded (as the loss of consciousness
ble to aspects of contemporary developed religions.) might suggest) and in its moment of absence
allow another evil spirit to get in.
“
tremendum et fascinans. surrounded by ritual. In
In most tribal communi- [The numinous is] a hunting, the simple and
ties, the sacred possesses such special term to stand for reliable ways of trap-
significance that no one deals ping or killing are con-
‘the holy’ minus its moral
with it carelessly or casually. It trolled by knowledge
is defined, not by the kind of factor . . . and minus its ‘rational’
”
and skill alone; but
causation behind it (in mod- aspect. —Rudolph OttoE let there be any dan-
ern terms “natural” or “super- ger or any uncertainty
natural”), but by potency: thus, connected with an
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COMPÔTE OF BARBERRIES FOR DESSERT.
When this fruit is first ripe it requires, from its excessive acidity,
nearly its weight of sugar to render it palatable; but after hanging
some time upon the trees it becomes much mellowed in flavour, and
may be sufficiently sweetened with a smaller proportion. According
to the state of the fruit then, take for each pound (leaving it in
bunches) from twelve to sixteen ounces of sugar, and boil it with
three-quarters of a pint of water until it forms a syrup. Throw in the
bunches of fruit, and simmer them for five or six minutes. If their
weight of sugar be used, they will become in that time perfectly
transparent. As all vessels of tin affect the colour of the barberries,
they should be boiled in a copper stewpan, or in a German
enamelled one, which would be far better.
Barberries, 1 lb.; sugar, 12 to 16 oz.; water, 3/4 pint; fruit simmered
in syrup, 5 to 6 minutes.
BLACK CAPS PAR EXCELLENCE.
Extract the juice from some fresh red currants by simmering them
very gently for a few minutes over a slow fire: strain it through a
folded muslin, and to one pound of it add a pound and a half of
nonsuches or of freshly gathered codlings, pared, and rather deeply
cored, that the fibrous part of the apple may be avoided. Boil these
quite slowly until the mixture is perfectly smooth, then, to evaporate
part of the moisture, let the boiling be quickened. In from twenty-five
to thirty minutes draw the pan from the fire, and throw in gradually a
pound and a quarter of sugar in fine powder: mix it well with the fruit,
and when it is dissolved continue the boiling rapidly for twenty
minutes longer, keeping the mixture constantly stirred; put it into a
mould, and store it, when cold, for winter use, or serve it for rice-
crust, or for the second course: in the latter case decorate it with
spikes of blanched almonds, or pistachio-nuts, and heap solid
whipped cream round it, or pour a custard into the dish. For rice-
crust it may be garnished with dice of the palest apple-jelly.
Juice of red currants, 1 lb.; nonsuches, or codlings (pared and
cored), 1-1/2 lb.: 25 to 30 minutes. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes.
Obs.—A portion of raspberries, if still in season, may be mixed
with the currants for this gâteau, should the flavour be liked.
For other and excellent varieties of gâteaux of fruit, see Newton
solid, and damson solid, Chapter XXIV. Ripe peaches and
nonsuches will likewise do well for it. Codlings answer perfectly for
the preceding receipt, and the preparation is of fine colour and very
pleasant flavour: it ought to cut in clear firm slices. Other varieties of
fruit can be mingled in the same manner.
JELLIES.
To four calf’s feet well cleaned and divided, pour a gallon of water
and let them stew until it is reduced to rather less than two quarts; or
if, after the flesh has quite fallen from the bones, the liquor on being
strained off should exceed that quantity, reduce it by rapid boiling in
a clean uncovered pan over a very clear fire. When it is perfectly firm
and cold, take it clear of fat and sediment, and add to it a bottle of
sherry, which should be of good quality (for poor, thin wines are not
well adapted to the purpose), three-quarters of a pound of sugar
broken small, the juice of five large or of six moderate-sized lemons,
and the whites, with the shells finely crushed, of seven eggs, or of
more should they be very small. The rinds of three lemons, pared
exceedingly thin, may be thrown into the jelly a few minutes before it
is taken from the fire; or they may be put into the jelly-bag previously
to its being poured through, when they will impart to it a slight and
delicate flavour, without deepening its colour much. If it is to be
moulded, something more than half an ounce of isinglass should be
dropped lightly in where the liquid becomes visible through the head
of scum, when the mixture begins to boil; for if not sufficiently firm, it
will break when it is dished. It may be roughed, or served in glasses
without this addition; and in a liquid state will be found an admirable
ingredient for Oxford, or other punch.
Calf’s feet, 4; water, 1 gallon: to be reduced more than half.
Sherry, 1 bottle; sugar, 3/4 lb. (more to taste); juice of 5 large
lemons, or of six moderate-sized; whites and shells of 7 eggs, or
more if small; rinds of lemons, 3 (for moulding, nearly 3/4 oz. of
isinglass): 15 to 20 minutes.
Obs.—An excellent and wholesome jelly for young people may be
made with good orange or raisin wine, instead of sherry; to either of
these the juice of three or four oranges, with a small portion of the
rind, may be added instead of part of the lemons.
MODERN VARIETIES OF CALF’S FEET JELLY.
(Author’s Receipt.)
To a pint and a half of firm calf’s feet stock, put a pint of strained
China-orange juice mixed with that of one or two lemons; add to
these six ounces of sugar, broken small, the very thin rinds of three
oranges and one lemon, and the whites of six eggs with half the
shells crushed small. Stir these gently over a clear fire until the head
of scum begins to form, but not at all afterwards. Simmer the jelly for
ten minutes from the first full boil; take it from the fire, let it stand a
little, then pour it through a jelly-bag until perfectly clear. This is an
original, and entirely new receipt, which we can recommend to the
reader, the jelly being very pale, beautifully transparent, and delicate
in flavour: it would, we think, be peculiarly acceptable to such
invalids as are forbidden to take wine in any form.
The proportions both of sugar and of lemon-juice must be
somewhat varied according to the season in which the oranges are
used.
Strong calf’s feet stock, 1-1/2 pint; strained orange-juice, mixed
with a small portion of lemon-juice, 1 pint; sugar, 6 oz.; rinds of
oranges, 3; of lemon, 1: 10 minutes.
Obs.—A small pinch of isinglass thrown into the jelly when it
begins to boil will much assist to clear it. When the flavour of Seville
oranges is liked, two or three can be used with the sweet ones.
ORANGE ISINGLASS JELLY.
The oranges for these should be large. First, mark the handle of
the basket evenly across the stalk end of the fruit with the back of a
small knife, or with a silver one, and let it be quite half an inch wide;
then trace a line across from one end of the handle to the other
exactly in the middle of the orange, and when the other side is
marked in the same way, cut just through the rind with the point of a
penknife, being careful not to pierce the fruit itself; next, with a tea or
dessertspoon, take of the quartered rind on either side of the handle;
pass a penknife under the handle itself; work the point of a spoon
gently between the orange and the basket, until they are separated
in every part; then take the fruit between the thumb and fingers, and
press it carefully out through one of the spaces on either side of the
handle.
Baskets thus made may be filled with any of the jellies of which the
receipts are given here: but they should be nearly cold before they
are poured in; and they ought also to be very clear. Some of the
baskets may be filled with ratifias, and dished alternately with those
which contain the jelly.
LEMON CALF’S FEET JELLY.
Infuse in a pint of water for five minutes the rind of half a Seville
orange, pared extremely thin; add an ounce of isinglass; and when
this is dissolved throw in four ounces of good sugar in lumps; stir
well, and simmer the whole for a few minutes, then mix with it four
large wineglassesful of Constantia, and strain the jelly through a fine
cloth of close texture; let it settle and cool, then pour it gently from
any sediment there may be, into a mould which has been laid for an
hour or two into water. We had this jelly made in the first instance for
an invalid who was forbidden to take acids, and it proved so
agreeable in flavour that we can recommend it for the table. The
isinglass, with an additional quarter of an ounce, might be clarified,
and the sugar and orange-rind boiled with it afterwards.
Water, 1 pint; rind, 1/2 Seville orange: 5 minutes. Isinglass, 1 oz.;
sugar, 4 oz.: 5 to 7 minutes. Constantia, 4 large wineglassesful.
RHUBARB ISINGLASS JELLY.
A great variety of equally elegant and excellent jellies for the table
may be made with clarified isinglass, clear syrup, and the juice of
almost any kind of fresh fruit; but as the process of making them is
nearly the same for all, we shall limit our receipts to one or two,
which will serve to direct the makers for the rest. Boil together
quickly for fifteen minutes one pint of water and three-quarters of a
pound of very good sugar; measure a quart of ripe richly-flavoured
strawberries without their stalks; the scarlet answer best, from the
colour which they give: on these pour the boiling syrup, and let them
stand all night. The next day clarify two ounces and a half of
isinglass in a pint of water, as directed at the beginning of this
chapter; drain the syrup from the strawberries very closely, add to it
two or three tablespoonsful of red currant juice, and the clear juice of
one large or two small lemons; and when the isinglass is nearly cold
mix the whole, and put it into moulds. The French, who excel in
these fruit-jellies, always mix the separate ingredients when they are
almost cold; and they also place them over ice for an hour or so after
they are moulded, which is a great advantage, as they then require
less isinglass, and are in consequence much more delicate. When
the fruit abounds, instead of throwing it into the syrup, bruise lightly
from three to four pints, throw two tablespoonsful of sugar over it,
and let the juice flow from it for an hour or two; then pour a little
water over, and use the juice without boiling, which will give a jelly of
finer flavour than the other.
Water, 1 pint; sugar, 3/4 lb.: 15 minutes. Strawberries, 1 quart;
isinglass, 2-1/2 oz.; water, 1 pint (white of egg, 1 to 2 teaspoonsful);
juice, 1 large or 2 small lemons.
FANCY JELLIES.
Description of
Belgrave Mould.
Figure No. 1,
represents the
mould in its
entireness. No. 2,
shows the interior
of it (inverted). A is
a thin metal plate
which when turned
downwards forms
the bottom of the
No. 1. mould, and which No. 2.
is perforated in six
places to permit
the fluted columns B to pass through it. There is also a larger
aperture in the middle to admit the centre cylinder. The plate is fixed,
and the whole is held in its place by the part which folds over the
larger scallop D at either end. There is also a cover which fits to the
mould, and which is pressed on it before it is dipped into water, to
prevent its getting into the cylinders.
Transparent jelly is shown to much
advantage, and is particularly brilliant in
appearance, when moulded in shapes
resembling that of the engraving here,
which are now very commonly used for the
purpose.
The centre spaces can be filled, after the
jelly is dished, with very light whipped
cream, coloured and flavoured so as to eat
agreeably with it, and to please the eye as well: this may be
tastefully garnished with preserved, or with fresh fruit; but one of