Strawberries for preserving should be large and ripe. They will
keep best if gathered in dry weather, when there has been no rain
for at least two days. Having hulled, or topped and tailed them
all, select the largest and firmest, and spread them out
separately on flat dishes; having first weighed them, and allowed
to each pound of strawberries a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Sift
half the sugar over them. Then take the inferior strawberries that
were left, and those that, are over ripe; mix with them an equal
quantity of powdered sugar, and mash them. Put them into a basin
covered with a plate, and set them over the fire in a pan of
boiling water, till they become a thick juice; then strain it
through a bag and mix with it the other half of the sugar that you
have allotted to the strawberries, which are to be done whole. Put
it into a porcelain kettle, and boil and skim it till the scum
ceases to rise; then put in the whole strawberries with the sugar
in which they have been lying, and all the juice that may have
exuded from them. Set them over the fire in the syrup, just long
enough to heat them a little; and in a few minutes take them out,
one by one, with a tea-spoon, and spread them on dishes to cool;
not allowing them to touch each other. Then take off what scum may
arise from the additional sugar. Repeat this several times, taking
out the strawberries and cooling them till they become quite
clear. They must not be allowed to boil; and if they seem likely
to break, they should be instantly and finally taken from the
fire. When quite cold, put them with the syrup into tumblers, or
into white queen's-ware pots. If intended to keep a long time it
will be well to put at the top a layer of apple jelly.