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 oat, 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 poor 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 four 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.