The introduction of iron ware lined with porcelain has fortunately
almost superseded the use of brass or bell-metal kettles for
boiling sweetmeats; a practice by which the articles prepared in
those pernicious utensils were always more or less imbued with the
deleterious qualities of the verdigris that is produced in them by the
action of acids.
Charcoal furnaces will be found very convenient for preserving; the
kettles being set on the top. They can be used in the open air.
Sweetmeats should be boiled rather quickly, that the watery particles
may exhale at once, without being subjected to so long a process as
to spoil the colour and diminish the flavour of the fruit. But on the
other hand, if boiled too short a time they will not keep so well.
If you wish your sweetmeats to look bright and clear, use only the very
best loaf-sugar. Fruit may be preserved for family use and for common
purposes, in sugar of inferior quality, but it will never have a good
appearance, and it is also more liable to spoil.
If too small a proportion of sugar is allowed to the fruit, it will
_certainly_ not keep well. When this experiment is tried it is
generally found to be false economy; as sweetmeats, when they begin
to spoil, can only be recovered and made eatable by boiling them over
again with additional sugar; and even then, they are never so good as
if done properly at first. If jellies have not sufficient sugar, they
do not congeal, but will remain liquid.
Jelly bags should be made of white flannel. It is well to have a wooden
stand or frame like a towel horse, to which the bag can be tied while
it is dripping. The bag should first be dipped in hot water, for if dry
it will absorb too much of the juice. After the liquor is all in, close
the top of the bag, that none of the flavour may evaporate.
In putting away sweetmeats, it is best to place them in small jars, as
the more frequently they are exposed to the air by opening, the more
danger there is of their spoiling. The best vessels for this purpose
are white queen's-ware pots, or glass jars. For jellies, jams, and for
small fruit, common glass tumblers are very convenient, and may be
covered simply with double tissue-paper, cut exactly to fit the inside
of the top of the glass, laid lightly on the sweetmeat, and pressed
down all round with the finger. This covering, if closely and nicely
fitted, will be found to keep them perfectly well, and as it adheres
so closely as to form a complete coat over the top, it is better for
jellies or jams than writing-paper dipped in brandy, which is always
somewhat shrivelled by the liquor with which it has been saturated.
If you find that your sweetmeats have become dry and candied, you may
liquefy them again by setting the jars in water and making it boil
round them.
In preserving fruit whole, it is best to put it first in a thin syrup.
If boiled in a thick syrup at the beginning, the juice will be drawn
out so as to shrink the fruit.
It is better to boil it but a short time at once, and then to take it
out and let it get cold, afterwards returning it to the syrup, than to
keep it boiling too long at a time, which will cause it to break and
lose its shape.
Preserving kettles should be rather broad than deep, for the fruit
cannot be done equally if it is too much heaped. They should all have
covers belonging to them, to put on after the scum has done rising,
that the flavour of the fruit may be kept in with the steam.
A perforated skimmer pierced all through with holes is a very necessary
utensil in making sweetmeats.
The water used for melting the sugar should be very clear; spring or
pump water is best. But if you are obliged to use river water, let it
first be filtered. Any turbidness or impurity in the water will injure
the clearness of the sweetmeats.
If sweetmeats ferment in the jars, boil them over again with additional
sugar.