In using self-sealing glass jars great care must be taken. If the work
is properly done the fruit can be kept for years. Have a kettle of hot
water on the stove beside the preserving kettle, and also a small
dipper of hot water. Plunge a jar into the hot water, having the water
strike both inside and outside the jar at the same time. If you set it
down instead of plunging it, it will break. Put the cover in the
dipper. When the jar is hot, lift it up and pour the water from it
into the kettle. Stand the jar in the hot water and fill it with hot
fruit from the preserving kettle. Fill to the brim with the hot syrup.
Take the cover from the dipper of hot water and screw it on very
tightly. In using the jars a second time have the right cover and band
for each one. A. large-mouthed tunnel, such as grocers have, is almost
indispensible in the work of preserving.
Jellies and jams should be put in tumblers or bowls. A paper should be
cut to fit the top, and then wet in brandy, and another paper should
be pasted over it Jelly tumblers with glass covers are more convenient
than the old-fashioned ones, and where they are used the second paper
cover is not necessary. It is better not to cover until some weeks
after the jelly is made. White crushed sugar is much the nicest for
preserving. If jelly does not seem hard, as it should be the day after
it is made, it can be set in the sun for several hours, which will
help it greatly.
Strawberries.
To each pound of berries allow half a pound of sugar. Put the berries
in a kettle, and mash them a little, so that there will be juice
enough to cook them without using water. Stir them to prevent
scorching. Cook fifteen minutes; then add the sugar, and let them boil
hard one minute. Put them in the jars as directed. More or less sugar
may be used, as one prefers.
Raspberries.
To each pound of berries allow three-fourths of a pound of sugar, and
cook the same as the strawberries.
Cherries.
Cherries may be preserved either with or without stones. Many think
the stones give a richer flavor. To each pound of cherries allow one
third of a pound of sugar. Put the sugar in the kettle with half a
pint of water to three pounds of sugar. Stir it until it is dissolved.
When boiling, add the cherries, and cook three minutes; then put in
the jars.
Currants.
Currants should be prepared the same as raspberries.
Pineapple.
Pare the fruit, and be sure you take out all the eyes and discolored
parts. Cut in slices, and cut the slices in small bits, taking out the
core. Weigh the fruit, and put in a pan with half as many pounds of
sugar as of fruit. Let it stand over night In the morning put it over
the fire and let it boil rapidly for a minute only, as cooking long
discolors it. Put it in the jars as directed.
Grated Pineapple.
Pare the fruit clean; then grate it on a coarse grater, rejecting the
cores. Weigh it, and put to each pound of fruit a pound of sugar. Let
it stand over night. In the morning boil for a minute, and it is done.
Put it in jars as directed.
Blackberries.
Blackberries are prepared like strawberries. If they are quite ripe,
not quite so much sugar is needed.
Whortleberries.
To each quart of berries allow one-third of a pound of sugar, and half
a pint of water to three pounds of sugar. Put the water and sugar over
the fire, and when boiling hot, add the berries. Cook three minutes.
Put in the jars as directed.
Crab-Apples.
To each pound of fruit allow half a pound of sugar, and a pint of
water to three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling hot, drop in
the apples. They will cook very quickly. When done, fill a jar with
the fruit, and fill it up with syrup.
Pears.
Pare the fruit and cut in halves. Throw into cold water, or they will
be discolored. Use one pound of sugar for three of fruit, and one
quart of water for three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling,
take the pears from the water, and drop into the syrup. Cook until
they can be pierced easily with a silver fork. Fill the jars with
fruit, and fill up to the brim with syrup, using a small strainer in
the tunnel, that the syrup may look clear. Bartlett pears are
delicious, as are, also, Seckel; but many other varieties are good.
Peaches.
Have ready a kettle of boiling water. Fill a wire basket with peaches
and plunge them into the boiling water. In two minutes take them out,
and the skins will come off easily. Drop the fruit into cold water, to
keep the color. For three pounds of fruit use one pound of sugar, and
one pint of water for three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling
hot, take the fruit from the water, and drop into it. Put but a few in
at a time, as they cook very quickly. Take them from the syrup with a
silver fork, fill the jar, and fill up with strained syrup. Peaches
are much nicer preserved whole, as the stones give a rich flavor.
Brandied Peaches.
The Morris white peaches are the best. Take off the skins with boiling
water. To each pound of fruit allow one pound of sugar, and half a
pint of water to three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling hot,
put in the peaches, and as fast as they cook, take them out carefully
and spread on platters. When cool, put them in jars, and fill up these
with syrup, using one-half syrup and one-half pale brandy. First-proof
alcohol, diluted with an equal quantity of water, can be used, instead
of brandy, but it is not, of course, so nice.
Plums.
The large white plums must be skinned by using boiling water, as for
peaches, and then throwing them into cold water. For one pound of
fruit allow half a pound of sugar, and half a pint of water for three
pounds of sugar. Cook but few at a time, and take them out carefully.
Fill up the jar with hot syrup.
Damsons.
Wash the fruit, and for one pound of it use half a pound of sugar, and
half a pint of water for three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is
boiling hot, put in the fruit, and cook three minutes. Dip the plums
and syrup together into the jars.
Quinces.
Pare and quarter the fruit, and take out all the cores and the hard
place around them. Boil the fruit in clear water until tender; then
spread it on towels to dry. For one pound of fruit allow half a pound
of sugar, and one pint of water for three pounds of sugar. When the
syrup is boiling hot, put in the fruit, and let it cook very slowly;
or, set it back on the stove so that it hardly cooks at all, and keep
it on for an hour or more, if you can without its cooking to pieces--
as the longer it cooks, the brighter red color it will be. Put it in
jars, and strain the syrup over it, as with other fruits.
Sour Oranges.
Grate off the rind, cut the orange into two parts, and remove the
pulp. Weigh the peel, place it in a large stone pot, and cover with
brine made of three gallons of water and a quart of salt. Let it stand
twenty-four hours, and drain off the brine. Again cover the peel with
brine made of the same quantity of water and half as much salt as was
first used, and let it stand another day. Drain, cover with clear cold
water, and let it stand a third day. Drain again, and put in a boiler
and cover with fresh cold water. Let it come to a boil, and boil
fifteen minutes; then take out and drain. Make a syrup of three quarts
of sugar and one of water, for every six pounds of peel. When the
syrup is clear, drop in the peel and boil until it is clear and
tender--perhaps four hours of slow boiling. Great care must be taken
that it is not scorched. It must be stirred every fifteen minutes. The
sugar may be either white or brown. The orange used is not the common
orange, but the wild, sour fruit, found in Florida. The pulp may be
used for marmalade.
Grapes.
Squeeze the pulp of the grapes out of the skins. Cook fee pulp (a few
minutes) until you can press it all through a sieve. Reject the seeds.
Add a little water to the skins, and cook until they are quite tender.
Then put the skins and pulp together. Measure; and to each pint add a
pound of sugar, and boil fifteen minutes.
Apple Ginger.
Four pounds each of apple and sugar. Make a syrup of the sugar, adding
a pint of water. Chop the apple very fine--with one ounce of green
ginger; or, if you cannot get the green ginger, use white ginger root
Put in the syrup with the grated rind of four lemons, and boil slowly
for two hours, or until it looks clear.
Raspberry or Strawberry Jam.
For each pound of fruit allow a pound of sugar. Mash the fruit in the
kettle. Boil hard for fifteen minutes; then add the sugar, and boil
five minutes.
Orange Marmalade.
Take equal weights of sour oranges and sugar. Grate the yellow rind
from a fourth of the oranges. Cut all the fruit in halves at what
might be called the "equator." Pick out the pulp, and free it of
seeds. Drain off as much juice as you conveniently can, and put it on
to boil with the sugar. Let it come to a boil. Skim, and simmer for
about fifteen minutes; then put in the pulp and grated rind and boil
fifteen minutes longer. Put away in jelly tumblers.
Quince Marmalade.
Cut up quinces--skins, cores and all, cover with water and boil until
tender. Rub through a sieve, and to every pint of pulp add one pint of
sugar. Boil two hours, stirring often. Peach, crab-apple and, in feet,
all kinds of marmalade may be made in the same manner.
Currant Jelly.
Wash the currants clean. Put them in the preserving kettle and mash
them, and boil twenty minutes or more, or until they are thoroughly
cooked. Dip them, a quart or more at a time, into a strainer cloth,
and squeeze out all the juice. Measure this, and for each pint allow
one pound of sugar. Put the juice over the fire, and let it boil
rapidly for five minutes; then add the sugar, and let it boil rapidly
one minute longer. Take off of the fire, skim clear, and put in
tumblers.
Barberry Jelly.
The barberries need not be stripped from the stems. Put the fruit in a
kettle with water enough to come just to the top of the fruit, and
boil until thoroughly cooked. Put in a strainer cloth and get out all
the juice. To each pint of it allow one pound of sugar. Boil the juice
hard for fifteen minutes. Add the sugar, and boil rapidly five or ten
minutes, or until it is thick.
Grape Jelly.
Mash the grapes in a kettle, put them over the fire, and cook until
thoroughly done. Drain through a sieve, but do not press through. To
each pint of the juice allow one pound of sugar. Boil rapidly for five
minutes. Add the sugar, and boil rapidly three minutes more.
Cider Apple Jelly.
Cut good, ripe apples in quarters, put them in a kettle, and cover
them with _sweet_ cider, just from the press. (It should, if
possible, be used the day it is made--or, at any rate, before it has
worked at all.) Boil until well done, and drain, through a sieve. Do
not press it through. Measure the liquor, and to each pint add one
pound of sugar. Boil from twenty minutes to half an hour.
Crab-Apple Jelly.
Wash the fruit clean, put in a kettle, cover with water, and boil
until thoroughly cooked. Then pour it into a sieve, and let it drain.
Do not press it through. For each pint of this liquor allow one pound
of sugar. Boil from twenty minutes to half an hour.
Other Jellies.
Jellies can be made from quinces, peaches and Porter apples by
following the directions for crab-apple jelly.