Take large egg plums that are not quite ripe, and prick them all
over with a small silver fork. Leave on the stems. To three pounds
of plums allow three pounds and a half of loaf-sugar, broken small
or powdered. Put the plums and sugar into a preserving kettle, and
pour in one half pint of clear hard water. Hang the kettle over a
moderate fire, and boil and skim it, As soon as the skin begins to
crack or shrivel, take out the plums one at a time, (leaving the
syrup on the fire,) and spread them on large dishes to cool. Place
them in the open air, and as soon as they are cool enough to be
touched with your fingers, smooth the skin down where it is broken
or ruffled, When quite cold, return them to the syrup, (which in
the mean time must have been kept slowly simmering,) and boil the
plums again till they are quite clear, but not till they break.
Put them warm into large glass or queen's-ware jars, and pour the
syrup over them.