Take large ripe morella cherries; weigh them, and to each pound allow
a pound of loaf-sugar. Stone the cherries, (opening them with a sharp
quill,) and save the juice that comes from them in the process. As you
stone them, throw them into a large pan or tureen, and strew about
half the sugar over them, and let them lie in it an hour or two after
they are all stoned. Then put them into a preserving kettle with the
remainder of the sugar, and boil and skim them till the fruit is clear
and the syrup thick.
CITRON MELON SLICES.--Take some fine citron melons; pare, core, and
cut them into long broad slices. Weigh them, and to every six pounds
of melon allow six pounds of fine loaf-sugar; and the juice and yellow
rind (pared off very thin) of four lemons; also, half a pound of race
(root) ginger. Put the slices of melon into a preserving-kettle; cover
them with strong alum water, and boil them half an hour, or longer,
till they are quite clear and tender. Then drain them, lay them in a
broad vessel of cold water, cover them and let them stand all night.
Next morning, tie up the race ginger in a piece of thin muslin, and
boil it in three pints of clear spring or pump water, till the water
is highly flavoured. Having broken up the sugar, put it into a clean
preserving-kettle, and pour the ginger water over it. When the sugar is
all melted, set it over the fire, add the lemon parings, and boil and
skim it, till no more scum rises. Then take out the lemon peel, stir in
the juice, and put in the citron slices. Boil them in the syrup till
they are transparent and soft, but not till they break. When done, put
the citron slices and syrup into a large tureen, set it in a dry, cool,
dark place, and leave it uncovered for two or three days. Then put the
slices carefully into wide-mouthed glass jars, and gently pour in the
syrup. Lay inside the top of each jar a double white tissue paper cut
exactly to fit, and close the jars carefully with corks and cement.
This will be found a delicious sweetmeat.
CHERRY JELLY.--Take fine juicy red cherries, and stone them. Save half
the stones, crack them, and extract the kernels. Put the cherries and
the kernels into a preserving kettle over a slow fire, and let them
boil gently in their juice for half an hour. Then transfer them to a
jelly-bag, and squeeze out the juice. Measure it, and to each pint
allow a pound of fine loaf-sugar. Dissolve the sugar in the juice,
and then boil and skim it for twenty or thirty minutes. Put it up in
tumblers covered with tissue paper.
CHERRY JAM.--To each pound of cherries allow three quarters of a pound
of the best white sugar. Stone them, and as you do so throw the sugar
gradually into the pan with them. Cover them and let them set all
night. Next day, boil them slowly till the cherries and sugar form a
thick smooth mass. Put it up in queen's-ware jars.
TO DRY CHERRIES.--Choose the finest and largest red cherries for this
purpose. Stone them, and spread them on large dishes in the sun, till
they become quite dry, taking them in as soon as the sun is off, or if
the sky becomes cloudy. Put them up in stone jars, strewing among them
some of the best brown sugar.
The common practice of drying cherries with the stones in, (to save
trouble,) renders them so inconvenient to eat, that they are of little
use, when done in that manner.
With the stones extracted, dried cherries will be found very good for
common pies.
BARBERRY JELLY.--Take ripe barberries, and having stripped them from
the stalks, mash them, and boil them in their juice for a quarter of
an hour. Then squeeze them through a bag; allow to each pint of juice,
a pound of loaf-sugar; and having melted the sugar in the juice, boil
them together twenty or twenty-five minutes, skimming carefully. Put it
up in tumblers with tissue paper.
FROSTED FRUIT.--Take large ripe cherries, plums, apricots, or grapes,
and cut off half the stalk. Have ready in one dish some beaten white of
egg, and in another some fine loaf-sugar, powdered and sifted. Dip the
fruit first into the white of egg, and then roll it one by one in the
powdered sugar. Lay a sheet of white paper on the bottom of a reversed
sieve, set it on a stove or in some other warm place, and spread the
fruit on the paper till the icing is hardened.
PEACH LEATHER.--To six pounds of ripe peaches, (pared and quartered,)
allow three pounds of the best brown sugar. Mix them together, and put
them into a preserving kettle, with barely water enough to keep them
from burning. Pound and mash them a while with a wooden beetle. Then
boil and skim them for three hours or more, stirring them nearly all
the time. When done, spread them thinly on large dishes, and set them
in the sun for three or four days. Finish the drying by loosening the
peach leather on the dishes, and setting them in the oven after the
bread is taken out, letting them remain till the oven is cold. Roll up
the peach leather and put it away in a box.
Apple leather may be made in the same manner.
RHUBARB JAM,--Peel the rhubarb stalks and cut them into small square
pieces. Then weigh them, and to each pound allow three quarters of
a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Put the sugar and the rhubarb into
a large, deep, white pan, in alternate layers, the top layer to be
of sugar--cover it, and let it stand all night. In the morning, put
it into a preserving kettle, and boil it slowly till the whole is
dissolved into a thick mass, stirring it frequently, and skimming it
before every stirring. Put it warm into glass jars, and tie it up with
brandy paper.