Take eight pounds of the best double-refined loaf-sugar and break it
up or powder it. Then beat the whites of four eggs to a strong froth.
Stir the white of egg gradually into two quarts of very clear spring or
pump water. Put the sugar into a porcelain kettle, and mix with it the
water and white of egg. While the sugar is melting, stir it frequently;
and when it is entirely dissolved, put the kettle over a moderate fire,
and let it boil, carefully taking off the scum as it comes to the top,
and pouring in a little cold water when you find the syrup rising so
as to run over the edge of the kettle. It will be well when it first
boils hard to pour in half a pint of cold water to keep down the
bubbles so that the scum may appear, and be easily removed. You must
not however boil it to candy height, so that the bubbles will look like
hard pearls, and the syrup will harden in the spoon and hang from it in
strings; for though very thick and clear it must continue liquid. When
it is done, let it stand till it gets quite cold; and if you do not
want it for immediate use, put it into bottles and seal the corks.
When you wish to use this syrup for preserving, you have only to put
the fruit into it, and boil it till tender and clear, but not till it
breaks. Large fruit that is done whole, should first be boiled tender
in a very thin syrup that it may not shrink. Small fruit, such as
raspberries, strawberries, grapes, currants, gooseberries, &c. may, if
perfectly ripe, be put raw into strong cold sugar syrup; they will thus
retain their form and colour, and their freshness and natural taste.
They must be put into small glass jars, and kept well covered with the
syrup. This, however, is an experiment which sometimes fails, and had
best be tried on a small scale, or only for immediate use.