Pare off the outer skin of some fine citrons, and cut them into
quarters. Take out the middle. You may divide each quarter into
several pieces. Lay them for four or five hours in salt and water.
Take them out, and then soak them in spring or pump water (changing
it frequently) till all the saltness is extracted, and till the last
water tastes perfectly fresh. Boil a small lump of alum, and scald them
in the alum-water. It must be very weak, or it will communicate an
unpleasant taste to the citrons; a lump the size of a hickory nut will
suffice for six pounds. Afterwards simmer them two hours with layers of
green vine leaves. Then make a syrup, with half a pint of water to each
pound of loaf-sugar; boil and skim it well. When it is quite clear,
put in the citrons, and boil them slowly, till they are so soft that a
straw will pierce through them without breaking. Afterwards put them
into a large dish, and set them in the sun to harden.
Prepare some lemons, by paring off the yellow rind very thin, and
cutting it into slips of uniform size and shape. Lay the lemon-rind in
scalding water, to extract the bitterness. Then take the pared lemons,
cut them into quarters, measure a half pint of water to each lemon,
and boil them to a mash. Strain the boiled lemon through a sieve,
and to each pint of liquid allow a pound of the best double-refined
loaf-sugar, for the second syrup. Melt the sugar in the liquid, and
stir into it gradually some beaten white of egg; allowing one white to
four pounds of sugar. Then set it over the fire; put the lemon-peel
into the syrup, and let it boil in it till quite soft.
Put the citrons cold into a glass jar, and pour the hot syrup over
them. Let the lemon remain with the citrons, as it will improve their
flavour.
If you wish the citrons to be candied, boil down the second syrup to
candy height, (that is, till it hangs in strings from the spoon,) and
pour it over the citrons. Keep them well covered.
You may, if you choose, after you take the citrons from the alum-water,
give them a boil in very weak ginger tea, made of the roots of green
ginger if you can procure it; if not, of race ginger. Powdered ginger
will not do at all. This ginger tea will completely eradicate any
remaining taste of the salt or the alum. Afterwards cover the sides and
bottom of the pan with vine leaves, put a layer of leaves between each
layer of citron, and cover the top with leaves. Simmer the citrons in
this two hours to green them.
In the same manner you may preserve water-melon rind, or the rind of
cantelopes. Cut these rinds into stars, diamonds, crescents, circles,
or into any fanciful shape you choose. Be sure to pare off the outside
skin before you put the rinds into the salt and water.
Pumpkin cut into slips, may be preserved according to the above
receipt.
CANTELOPES OR MUSK-MELONS.--Take very small cantelopes before they are
ripe. Shave a thin paring off the whole outside. Cut out a small piece
or plug about an inch square, and through it extract all the seeds, &c.
from the middle. Then return the plugs to the hole from whence you took
them, and secure them with a needle and thread, or by tying a small
string round the cantelope.
Lay the cantelopes for four or five hours in salt and water. Then put
them into spring water to extract the salt, changing the water till you
find it salt no longer. Scald them in weak alum-water. Make a syrup in
the proportion of a pint of water to a pound of loaf-sugar, and boil
the cantelopes in it till a straw will go through them. Then take them
out, and set them in the sun to harden.
Prepare some fine ripe oranges, paring off the yellow rind very thin,
and cutting it into slips, and then laying it in scalding water to
extract the bitterness. Cut the oranges into pieces; allow a pint of
water to each orange, and boil them to a pulp. Afterwards strain them,
and allow to each pint of the liquid, a pound of the best loaf-sugar,
and stir in a little beaten white of egg; one white to two pounds of
sugar. This is for the second syrup. Boil the peel in it, skimming it
well. When the peel is soft, take it all out; for if left among the
cantelopes, it will communicate to it too strong a taste of the orange.
Put the cantelopes into your jars, and pour over them the hot syrup.
Cover them closely, and keep them in a dry cool place.
Large cantelopes may be prepared for preserving (after you have taken
off the outer rind) by cutting them into pieces according to the
natural divisions with which they are fluted.
This receipt for preserving cantelopes whole, will do very well for
green lemons or limes, substituting lemon-peel and lemon-juice for that
of oranges in the second syrup.
You may use some of the first syrup to boil up the pulp of the orange
or lemons that has been left. It will make a sort of marmalade, that is
very good for colds.
PRESERVED WATER-MELON RIND.--Having pared off the green skin, cut the
rind of a water-melon into pieces of any shape you please; stars,
diamonds, circles, crescents or leaves, using for the purpose a sharp
penknife. Weigh the pieces, and allow to each pound a pound and a half
of loaf sugar. Set the sugar aside, and put the pieces of melon-rind
into a preserving kettle, the bottom and sides of which you have lined
with green vine leaves. Put a layer of vine leaves between each layer
of melon-rind, and cover the top with leaves. Disperse among the pieces
some very small bits of alum, each about the bigness of a grain of
corn, and allowing one bit to every pound of the melon-rind. Pour in
just water enough to cover the whole, and place a thick double cloth
(or some other covering) over the top of the kettle to keep in the
steam, which will improve the greening. Let it simmer (but not boil)
for two hours. Then take out the pieces of melon-rind and spread them
on dishes to cool. Afterwards if you find that they taste of the alum,
simmer them in very weak ginger tea for about three hours. Then proceed
to make your syrup. Melt the sugar in clear spring or pump water,
allowing a pint of water to a pound and a half of sugar, and mixing in
with it some white of egg beaten to a stiff froth. The white of one egg
will be enough for two pounds of sugar. Boil and skim it; and when the
scum ceases to rise, put in the melon-rind, and let it simmer an hour.
Take it out and spread it to cool on dishes, return it to the syrup,
and simmer it another hour. After this take it out, and put it into a
tureen. Boil up the syrup again, and pour it over the melon-rind. Cover
it, and let it stand all night. Next morning give the syrup another
boil; adding to it some lemon-juice, allowing the juice of one lemon to
a quart of the syrup. When you find it so thick as to hang in a drop on
the point of the spoon, it is sufficiently done. Then put the rind into
glass jars, pour in the syrup, and secure the sweetmeats closely from
the air with paper dipped in brandy, and a leather outer cover.
This, if carefully done and well greened, is a very nice sweetmeat, and
may be used to ornament the top of creams, jellies, jams. &c. laying it
round in rings or wreaths.
Citrons may be preserved green in the same manner, first paring off the
outer skin and cutting them into quarters. Also green limes.
PRESERVED PEPPERS.--For this purpose take the small round peppers while
they are green. With a sharp penknife extract the seeds and cores; and
then put the outsides into a kettle with vine leaves, and a little
alum to give them firmness, and assist in keeping them green. Proceed
precisely as directed for the water-melon rind, in the above receipt.
PUMPKIN CHIPS.--It is best to defer making this sweetmeat (which will
be found very fine) till late in the season when lemons are ripe and
are to be had in plenty. Pumpkins (as they keep well) can generally be
procured at any time through the winter.
Take a fine pumpkin of a rich deep colour, pare off the outer rind;
remove the seeds; and having sliced the best part, cut it into chips
of equal size, and as thin as you can do them. They should be in long
narrow pieces, two inches in breadth, and four in length. It is best
to prepare the pumpkin the day before; and having weighed the chips,
allow to each pound of them a pound of the best loaf-sugar. You must
have several dozen of fine ripe lemons, sufficient to furnish a jill
of lemon-juice to each pound of pumpkin. Having rolled them under
your hand on a table, to make them yield as much juice as possible,
pare off the yellow rind and put it away for some other purpose. Then
having cut the lemons, squeeze out all the juice into a pitcher. Lay
the pumpkin chips in a large pan or tureen, strewing the sugar among
them. Then having measured the lemon-juice in a wine-glass, (two common
wine-glasses making one jill,) pour it over the pumpkin and sugar,
cover the vessel, and let it stand all night.
Next day transfer the pumpkin, sugar, and lemon-juice to a preserving
kettle, and boil it slowly for an hour or more, or till the pumpkin
becomes all through tender, crisp, and transparent; but it must not be
over the fire long enough to break and lose its form. You must skim it
thoroughly. Some very small pieces of the lemon-paring may be boiled
with it. When you think it is done, take up the pumpkin chips in a
perforated skimmer that the syrup may drain through the holes back into
the kettle. Spread the chips to cool on large dishes, and pass the
syrup through a flannel bag that has been first dipped in hot water.
When the chips are cold, put them into glass jars or tumblers, pour in
the syrup, and lay on the top white paper dipped in brandy. Then tie up
the jars with leather, or with covers of thick white paper.
If you find that when cold the chips are not perfectly clear, crisp,
and tender, give them another boil in the syrup before you put them up.
This, if well made, is a handsome and excellent sweetmeat. It need not
be eaten with cream, the syrup being so delicious as to require nothing
to improve it. Shells of puff-paste first baked empty, and then filled
with pumpkin chips, will be found very nice.
Musk-melon chips may be done in the same manner.
TO PRESERVE PINE-APPLES.--Take fine large pine-apples; pare them, and
cut off a small round piece from the bottom of each; let the freshest
and best of the top leaves remain on. Have ready on a slow fire, a
large preserving kettle with a thin syrup barely sufficient to cover
the fruit. In making this syrup allow a pound of fine loaf-sugar to
every quart of water, and half the white of a beaten egg; all to be
mixed before it goes on the fire. Then boil and skim it, and when the
scum ceases to rise, put in the pine-apples, and simmer them slowly an
hour. Then take them out to cool, cover them carefully and put them
away till next day; saving the syrup in another vessel. Next day, put
them into the same syrup, and simmer them again an hour. On the third
day, repeat the process. The fourth day, make a strong fresh syrup,
allowing but a pint of water to each pound of sugar, and to every two
pounds the beaten white of one egg. When this syrup has boiled, and is
completely skimmed, put in the pine-apples, and simmer them half an
hour. Then take them out to cool, and set them aside till next morning.
Boil them again half an hour in the same syrup, and repeat this for
seven or eight days, or till you can pierce through the pine-apple with
a straw from a corn-broom. At the last of these boilings enrich the
syrup by allowing to each pound of sugar a quarter of a pound more;
and, having boiled and skimmed it, put in the pine apples for half an
hour. Then take them out, and when quite cold put each into a separate
glass jar, and fill up with the syrup.
Pine apples may be preserved in slices by a very simple process. Pare
them, and cut them into round pieces near an inch thick, and take out
the core from the centre of each slice. Allow a pound of loaf-sugar to
every pound of the sliced pine-apple. Powder the sugar, and strew it in
layers between the slices of pine-apple. Cover it and let it set all
night. Next morning measure some clear spring or pump water, allowing
half a pint to each pound of sugar. Beat some white of egg, (one white
to two pounds of sugar,) and when it is a very stiff froth, stir it
gradually into the water. Then mix with it the pine-apple and sugar,
and put the whole into a preserving kettle. Boil and skim it well, till
the pine-apple is tender and bright all through. Then take it out, and
when cold, put it up in wide-mouthed glass jars, or in large tumblers.
TO PREPARE FRESH PINE-APPLES.--Cut off the top and bottom and pare off
the rind. Then cut the pine-apples in round slices half an inch thick,
and put them into a deep dish, sprinkling every slice with powdered
loaf-sugar. Cover them, and let them lie in the sugar for an hour or
two, before they are to be eaten.
PRESERVED LEMONS.--Take large fine ripe lemons, that have no blemishes.
Choose those with thin, smooth rinds. With a sharp knife scoop a
hole in the stalk end of each, large enough to admit the handle of a
tea-spoon. This hole is to enable the syrup to penetrate the inside
of the lemons. Put them into a preserving kettle with clear water,
and boil them gently till you find them tender, keeping the kettle
uncovered. Then take them out, drain, and cool them, and put them into
a small tub. Prepare a thin syrup of a pound of loaf-sugar to a quart
of water. When you have boiled and skimmed it, pour it over the lemons
and cover them. Let them stand in the syrup till next day. Then pour
the syrup from the lemons, and spread them on a large dish. Boil it a
quarter of an hour, and pour it over them again, having first returned
them to the tub. Cover them, and let them again stand till next day,
when you must again boil the syrup and pour it over them. Repeat this
process every day till you find that the lemons are quite clear, and
that the syrup has penetrated them thoroughly. If you find the syrup
becoming too weak, add a little more sugar to it. Finally, make a
strong syrup in the proportion of half a pint of water to a pound of
sugar, adding a jill of raw lemon-juice squeezed from fresh lemons,
and allowing to every two pounds of sugar the beaten white of an egg.
Mix all well together in the kettle. Boil and skim it, and when the
scum ceases to rise, pour the syrup boiling hot over the lemons; and
covering them closely, let them stand undisturbed for four days. Then
look at them, and if you find that they have not sucked in enough of
the syrup to make the inside very sweet, boil them gently in the syrup
for a quarter of an hour. When they are cold, put them up in glass jars.
You may green lemons by burying them in a kettle of vine leaves when
you give them the first boiling in the clear water.
Limes may be preserved by this receipt; also oranges.
To prepare fresh oranges for eating, peel and cut them in round slices
and remove the seeds. Strew powdered loaf-sugar over them. Cover them
and let them stand an hour before they are eaten.
ORANGE MARMALADE.--Take fine large ripe oranges, with thin
deep-coloured skins. Weigh them, and allow to each pound of oranges a
pound of loaf-sugar. Pare off the yellow outside of the rind from half
the oranges, as thin as possible; and putting it into a pan with plenty
of cold water, cover it closely (placing a double cloth beneath the tin
cover) to keep in the steam, and boil it slowly till it is so soft that
the head of a pin will pierce it. In the mean time grate the rind from
the remaining oranges, and put it aside; quarter the oranges, and take
out all the pulp and the juice; removing the seeds and core. Put the
sugar into a preserving kettle, with a half pint of clear water to each
pound, and mix it with some beaten white of egg, allowing one white of
egg, to every two pounds of sugar. When the sugar is all dissolved, put
it on the fire, and boil and skim it till it is quite clear and thick.
Next take the boiled parings, and pound them to a paste in a mortar;
put this paste into the sugar, and boil and stir it ten minutes. Then
put it in the pulp and juice of the oranges, and the grated rind,
(which will much improve the colour,) and boil all together for about
half an hour, till it is a transparent mass. When cold, put it up in
glass jars, laying brandy paper on the top.
Lemon marmalade may be made in a similar manner, but you must allow a
pound and a half of sugar to each pound of lemons.
ORANGE JELLY.--Take twenty large ripe oranges, and grate the yellow
rind from seven of them. Dissolve an ounce of isinglass in as much warm
water as will cover it. Mix the juice with a pound of loaf-sugar broken
up, and add the grated rind and the isinglass. Put it into a porcelain
pan over hot coals, and stir it till it boils. Then skim it well.
Boil it ten minutes, and strain it (but do not squeeze it) through a
jelly-bag till it is quite clear. Put it into a mould to congeal, and
when you want to turn it out dip the mould into luke-warm water. Or you
may put it into glasses at once.
You must have a pint of juice to a pound of sugar.
A few grains of saffron boiled with the jelly will improve the colour
without affecting the taste.