Preserved apples are only intended for present use, as they will not keep long.
Pears may be done in the same way, either whole or cut in half.
They may be flavoured either with lemon or cinnamon, or both. The pears for preserving should be green.
PRESERVED PEACHES.
Take the largest and finest free-stone peaches, before they are too ripe. Pare them, and cut them in halves or in quarters. Crack the stones, and take out the kernels, and break them in pieces.
Put the peaches, with the parings and kernels, into your preserving kettle, with a very little water. Boil them till they are tender. Take out the peaches and spread them on a large dish to cool. Strain the liquor through a bag or sieve. Next day, measure the juice, and to each pint allow a pound of loaf-sugar.
Put the juice and sugar into the kettle with the peaches, and boil them slowly half an hour, or till they are quite soft, skimming all the time. Take the peaches out, put them into your jars, and pour the warm liquor over them. When cold, tie them up with brandy paper.
If boiled too long, they will look dull, and be of a dark colour.
[Footnote: To preserve peaches whole, pare them and thrust out the stones with a skewer. Then proceed as above, only blanch the kernels and keep them whole. When the peaches are done, stick a kernel into the hole of every peach, before you put them into the jars. Large fruit will keep best in broad shallow stone pots.]
If you do not wish the juice to be very thick, do not put it on to boil with the sugar, but first boil the sugar alone, with only as much water as will dissolve it, and skim it well. Let the sugar, in all cases, be entirely melted before it goes on the fire.
Having boiled the sugar and water, and skimmed it to a clear syrup, then put in your juice and fruit together, and boil them till completely penetrated with the sugar.
PRESERVED CRAB APPLES
Wash your fruit. Cover the bottom of your preserving kettle with grape leaves. Put in the apples. Hang them over the fire, with a very little water, and cover them closely. Do not allow them to boil, but let them simmer gently till they are yellow. Take them out, and spread them on a large dish to cool. Pare and core them.
Put them again into the kettle, with fresh vine-leaves under and over them, and a very little water. Hang them over the fire till they are green. Do not let them boil.
Take them out, weigh them, and allow a pound of loaf-sugar to a pound of crab-apples. Put to the sugar just water enough to dissolve it. When it is all melted, put it on the fire, and boil and skim it. Then put in your fruit, and boil the apples till they are quite clear and soft. Put them in jars, and pour the warm liquor over them. When cold, tie them up with brandy paper.
PRESERVED PLUMS.
Cut your plums in half, (they must not be quite ripe,) and take am the stones. Weigh the plums and allow a pound of loaf-sugar to a pound of fruit.
Crack the stones, take out the kernels and break them in pieces.
Boil the plums and kernels very slowly for about fifteen minutes, in as little water as possible. Then spread them on a large dish to cool, and strain the liquor.
Next day make your syrup. Melt the sugar in as little water as will suffice to dissolve it, (about half a pint of water to a pound of sugar) and boil it a few minutes, skimming it till quite clear. Then put in your plums with the liquor, and boil them fifteen minutes. Put them in jars, pour the juice over them warm, and tie them up, when cold, with brandy paper. [Footnote: Plums for common use, are very good done in molasses. Put your plums into an earthen vessel that holds a gallon, having first slit each plum with a knife. To three quarts of plums put a pint of molasses. Cover them and set them on hot coals in the chimney corner. Let them stew for twelve hours or more, occasionally stirring them, and renewing the coals. Next day put them up in jars. Done in this manner they will keep till the next spring.]
Syrups may be improved in clearness, by adding to the dissolved sugar and water, some white of egg very well beaten, allowing the white of one egg to each pound of sugar. Boil it very hard, and skim it well, that it may be quite clear before you put in your fruit.
PRESERVED STRAWBERRIES.
Weigh the strawberries after you have picked off the stems. To each pound of fruit allow a pound of loaf-sugar, which must be powdered. Strew half of the sugar over the strawberries, and let them stand in a cold place two or three hours. Then put them in a preserving kettle over a slow fire, and by degrees strew on the rest of the sugar. Boil them fifteen or twenty minutes, and skim them well.
Put them in wide-mouthed bottles, and when cold, seal the corks.
If you wish to do them whole, take them carefully out of the syrup, (one at a time) while boiling. Spread them to cool on large dishes, not letting the strawberries touch each other, and when cool, return them to the syrup, and boil them a little longer.
Repeat this several times.
Keep the bottles in dry sand, in a place that is cool and not damp.
Gooseberries, currants, raspberries, cherries and grapes may be done in the same manner. The stones must be taken from the cherries (which should be morellas, or the largest and best red cherries;) and the seeds should be extracted from the grapes with the sharp point of a penknife. Gooseberries, grapes, and cherries, require longer boiling than strawberries, raspberries or currants.
PRESERVED CRANBERRIES
Wash your cranberries, weigh them, and to each pound allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Dissolve the sugar in a very little water, (about half a pint of water to a pound of sugar) and set it on the fire in a preserving kettle. Boil it nearly ten minutes, skimming it well. Then put in your cranberries, and boil them slowly, till they are quite soft, and of a fine colour.
Put them warm into your jars or glasses, and tie them up with brandy paper, when cold.
All sorts of sweetmeats keep better in glasses, than in stone of earthen jars. When opened for use, they should be tied up again immediately, as exposure to the air spoils them.
Common glass tumblers are very convenient for jellies, and preserved small fruit. White jars are better than stone or earthen, for large fruit.
PRESERVED PUMPKIN.
Cut slices from a fine high-coloured pumpkin, and cut the slices into chips about the thickness of a dollar. The chips should be of an equal size, six inches in length and an inch broad. Weigh them and allow to each pound of pumpkin chips, a pound of loaf-sugar.
Have ready a sufficient number of fine lemons, pare off the yellow rind, and lay it aside. Cut the lemons in half, and squeeze the juice into a bowl. Allow a gill of juice to each pound of pumpkin.
Put the pumpkin into a broad pan laying the sugar among it. Pour the lemon-juice over it, Cover the pan, and let the pumpkin chips, sugar and lemon-juice, set all night.
Early in the morning put the whole into a preserving pan, and boil all together (skimming it well) till the pumpkin becomes clear and crisp, but not till it breaks. It should have the appearance of lemon-candy. You may if you choose, put some lemon-peel with it, cut in very small pieces.
Half an hour's boiling (or a little more) is generally sufficient.
When it is done, take out the pumpkin, spread it On a large dish, and strain the syrup through a bag. Put the pumpkin into your jars or glasses, pour the syrup over it, and tie it up with brandy paper.
If properly done, this is a very fine sweetmeat. The taste of the pumpkin will be lost in that of the lemon and sugar, and the syrup is particularly pleasant. It is eaten without cream, like preserved ginger. It may be laid on puff-paste shells, after they are baked.
PRESERVED PINE-APPLE,
Pare your pine-apples, and cut them in thick slices. Weigh the slices and to each pound allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Dissolve the sugar in a very small quantity of water, stir it, and set it over the fire in a preserving-kettle. Boil it ten minutes, skimming it well. Then put in it the pine-apple slices, and boil them till they are clear and soft, but not till they break. About half an hour (or perhaps less time) will suffice. Let them cool in a large dish or pan, before you put them into your jars, which you must do carefully, lest they break. Pour the syrup over them. Tie them up with brandy paper.
RASPBERRY JAM.
Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Mash the raspberries and put them with the sugar into your preserving kettle. Boll it slowly for an hour skimming it well. Tie it up with brandy paper.
All jams are made in the same manner.
APPENDIX.
MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS.