Take fine ripe pippin or bell-flower apples. Pare and core them, and
either leave them whole, or cut them into quarters. Weigh them, and to
each pound of apples allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Put the apples into a
stew-pan with just water enough to cover them, and let them boil slowly
for about half an hour. They must be only parboiled. Then strain the
apple water over the sugar into a preserving kettle, and when the sugar
is melted put it on the fire with the yellow rind of some lemons pared
thin, allowing two lemons to a dozen apples. Boil the syrup till clear
and thick, skimming it carefully; then put in the apples, and after
they have boiled slowly a quarter of an hour, add the juice of the
lemons. Let it boil about fifteen minutes longer, or till the apples
are tender and clear, but not till they break. When they are cold, put
them into jars, and covering them closely, let them set a week. At the
end of that time give them another boil in the same syrup; apples being
more difficult to keep than any other fruit.
You may colour them red by adding, when you boil them in the syrup, a
little cochineal.
BAKED APPLES.--Take a dozen fine large juicy apples, and pare and core
them, but do not cut them in pieces. Put them side by side into a
large baking-pan, and fill up with white sugar the holes from whence
you have extracted the cores. Pour into each a little lemon-juice, or
a few drops of essence of lemon, and stick in every one a long piece
of lemon-peel evenly cut. Into the bottom of the pan put a very little
water, just enough to prevent the apples from burning. Bake them about
an hour, or till they are tender all through, but not till they break.
When done, set them away to get cold.
If closely covered they will keep two days. They may be eaten at tea
with cream. Or at dinner with a boiled custard poured over them. Or
you may cover them with sweetened cream flavoured with a little essence
of lemon, and whipped to a froth. Heap the froth over every apple so as
to conceal them entirely.
APPLE JELLY.--Take twenty large ripe juicy pippins. Pare, core, and
chop them to pieces. Put them into a jar with the yellow rind of four
lemons, pared thin and cut into little bits. Cover the jar closely, and
set it into a pot of hot water. Keep the water boiling hard all round
it till the apples are dissolved. Then strain them through a jelly-bag,
and mix with the liquid the juice of the lemons. To each pint of the
mixed juice allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Put them into a porcelain
kettle, and when the sugar is melted, set it on the fire, and boil and
skim it for about twenty minutes, or till it becomes a thick jelly. Put
it into tumblers, and cover it with double tissue paper nicely fitted
to the inside of the top.
The red or Siberian crab apple makes a delicious jelly, prepared in the
above manner.
APPLE BUTTER.--This is a compound of apples and cider boiled together
till of the consistence of soft butter. It is a very good article on
the tea-table, or at luncheon. It can only be made of sweet new cider
fresh from the press, and not yet fermented.
Fill a very large kettle with cider, and boil it till reduced to one
half the original quantity. Then have ready some fine juicy apples,
pared, cored, and quartered; and put as many into the kettle as can be
kept moist by the cider. Stir it frequently, and when the apples are
stewed quite soft, take them out with a skimmer that has holes in it,
and put them into a tub. Then add more apples to the cider, and stew
them soft in the same manner, stirring them nearly all the time with
a stick. Have at hand some more cider ready boiled, to thin the apple
butter in case you should find it too thick in the kettle.
If you make a large quantity, (and it is not worth while to prepare
apple butter on a small scale,) it will take a day to stew the apples.
At night leave them to cool in the tubs, (which must be covered with
cloths,) and finish next day by boiling the apple and cider again till
the consistence is that of soft marmalade, and the colour a very dark
brown.
Twenty minutes or half an hour before you finally take it from the
fire, add powdered cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to your taste. If the
spice is boiled too long, it will lose its flavour.
When it is cold, put it into stone jars, and cover it closely. If it
has been well made, and sufficiently boiled, it will keep a year or
more.
It must not be boiled in a brass or bell-metal kettle, on account of
the verdigris which the acid will collect in it, and which will render
the apple butter extremely unwholesome, not to say poisonous.
TO PRESERVE GREEN CRAB APPLES.--Having washed your crab apples, (which
should be full grown,) cover the bottom and sides of your preserving
kettle with vine leaves, and put them in; spreading a thick layer of
vine leaves over them. Fill up the kettle with cold water, and hang it
over a slow fire early in the morning; simmer them slowly, but do not
allow them to boil. When they are quite yellow, take them out, peel off
the skin with a penknife, and extract the cores very neatly. Put them
again into the kettle with fresh vine leaves and fresh water, and hang
them again over a slow fire to simmer, but not to boil. When they have
remained long enough in the second vine leaves to become green, take
them out, weigh them, and allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar to
each pound of crab apples. Then after the kettle has been well washed
and wiped, put them into it with a thick layer of sugar between each
layer of apples, and about half a pint of water, for each pound and a
half of sugar. You may add the juice and yellow peel of some lemons.
Boil them gently till they are quite clear and tender throughout. Skim
them well, and keep the kettle covered when you are not skimming. When
done, spread them on large dishes to cool, and then tie them up in
glass jars with brandy papers.
TO PRESERVE RED CRAB APPLES.--Take red or Siberian crab apples when
they are quite ripe and the seeds are black. Wash and wipe them, and
put them into a kettle with sufficient water to cover them. Simmer them
very slowly till you find that the skin will come off easily. Then
take them out and peel and core them; extract the cores carefully with
a small knife, so as not to break the apples. Then weigh them, and
to every pound of crab apples allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar
and a half pint of water. Put the sugar and water into a preserving
kettle, and when they are melted together, set it over the fire and
let it boil. After skimming it once, put in the crab apples, adding a
little cochineal powder rubbed with a knife into a very small quantity
of white brandy till it has dissolved. This will greatly improve the
colour of the apples. Cover them and let them boil till clear and
tender, skimming the syrup when necessary. Then spread them out on
dishes, and when they are cold, put them into glass jars and pour the
syrup over them.
The flavour will be greatly improved by boiling with them in the
syrup, a due proportion of lemon-juice and the peel of the lemons pared
thin so as to have the yellow part only. If you use lemon-juice put a
smaller quantity of water to the sugar. Allow one large lemon or two
smaller ones to two pounds of crab apples.
If you find that after they have been kept awhile, the syrup inclines
to become dry or candied, give it another boil with the crab apples in
it, adding a tea-cup full of water to about three or four pounds of the
sweetmeat.