The best way of preserving gooseberries is with jelly. They should
be full grown but green. Take six quarts of gooseberries, and
select three quarts of the largest and finest to preserve whole,
reserving the others for the jelly. Put the whole ones into a pan
with sufficient water to cover them, and simmer them slowly till
they begin to be tender; but do not keep them on the fire till
they are likely to burst. Take them out carefully with a
perforated skimmer to drain the warm water from them, and lay them
directly in a pan of cold water. Put those that you intend for the
jelly into a stew-pan, allowing to each quart of gooseberries half
a pint of water. Boil them fast till they go all to pieces, and
stir and mash them with a spoon. Then put them into a jelly-bag
that has been first dipped in hot water, and squeeze through it
all the juice. Measure the juice, and to each pint allow a pound
and a half of loaf-sugar. Break up the sugar, and put it into a
preserving kettle; pour the juice over it, and let it stand to
melt, stirring it frequently. When it has all dissolved, set it
over the fire, put the gooseberries into it, and let them boil
twenty minutes, or till they are quite clear, and till the jelly
is thick and congeals in the spoon when you hold it in the air. If
the gooseberries seem likely to break, take them out carefully,
and let the jelly boil by itself till it is finished. When all is
done, put up the gooseberries and the jelly together in glass
jars.
Strawberries, raspberries, grapes, currants or any small fruit may
in a similar manner be preserved in jelly.