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 four
lemons lo 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.