Strawberries for preserving should be large and ripe. They will keep
best if gathered in dry weather, when there has been no rain for at
least two days. Having hulled, or picked off the green, select the
largest and firmest, and spread them out separately on flat dishes;
having first weighed them, and allowed to each pound of strawberries a
pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Sift half the sugar over them. Then take
the inferior strawberries that were left, and those that are over-ripe;
mix with them an equal quantity of powdered sugar, and mash them. Put
them into a basin covered with a plate, and set them over the fire in
a pan of boiling water, till they become a thick juice; then strain
it through a bag, and mix with it the other half of the sugar that
you have allotted to the strawberries, which are to be done whole. Put
it into a porcelain kettle, and boil and skim it till the scum ceases
to rise; then put in the whole strawberries with the sugar in which
they have been lying, and all the juice that may have exuded from
them. Set them over the fire in the syrup, just long enough to heat
them a little; and in a few minutes take them out, one by one, with
a tea-spoon, and spread them on dishes to cool; not allowing them to
touch each other. Then take off what scum may arise from the additional
sugar. Repeat this several times, taking out the strawberries and
cooling them till they become quite clear. They must not be allowed to
boil; and if they seem likely to break, they should be instantly and
finally taken from the fire. When quite cold, put them with the syrup
into tumblers, or into white queen's-ware pots. If intended to keep a
long time it will be well to put at the top a layer of apple jelly.