Take eight pounds of the best double-refined loaf-sugar, and break
it up or powder it. Have ready the whites of two eggs, beaten 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
then 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
scale, or only for immediate use.