Chapter XXIV: =Preserves.= (1)

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE USE AND VALUE OF PRESERVED FRUIT. ]

SIMPLE well-made preserves—especially those of our early summer fruits—are most valuable domestic stores, as they will retain through the entire year or longer,[164] their peculiarly grateful and agreeable flavour, and supply many wholesome and refreshing varieties of diet through the winter months and spring. They are, indeed, as conducive to health—when not cloyingly sweet or taken in excess—as good vegetables are; and they are inexpensive luxuries (if as _luxuries_ they must be regarded), now sugar is so very reasonable in price. By many families they are considered too much as mere superfluities of the table, and when served only—as they so often are—combined with rich pastry-crust or cream, or converted into ices and other costly preparations, may justly be viewed solely in that light. To be eaten in perfection they should be sufficiently boiled down to remain free from mould or fermentation, and yet not so much reduced as to be dry or hard; they should not afterwards be subjected to the heat of the oven,[165] but served with some plain pudding, or light dish of bread, rice, ribbon-macaroni, soujee, semoulina, &c. When intended for tartlets or creams, or fruit-sauces, for which see Chapter XX., they should be somewhat less boiled, and be made with a larger proportion of sugar.

Footnote 164:

We have had them _excellent_ at the end of three or four years, but
they were made from the produce of a _home garden_, as freshly
gathered, and carefully selected as it could be. Some clear
apricot-marmalade, some strawberry-jelly, and some raspberry-jelly,
were amongst those which retained their full flavour and transparency
to the last. They were merely covered with two layers of thin writing
paper pressed closely on them, after being saturated with spirits of
wine.

Footnote 165:

For the manner of serving them in pastry without this, see “small
_vol-au-vents_ and tartlets,” Chap. XVIII.

Fruit steamed in bottles is now vended and consumed in very large quantities in this country, but it is not wholesome, as it produces often—probably from the amount of fixed air which it contains—violent derangement of the system. When the bottles are filled with water it is less apt to disagree with the eaters, but it is never so really wholesome as preserves which are made with sugar. That which is baked keeps remarkably well, and appears to be somewhat less objectionable than that which is steamed.

The rich confectionary preparations called _wet preserves_ (fruits preserved in syrup), which are principally adapted to formal desserts, scarcely repay the cost and trouble of making them in private families, unless they be _often_ required for table. They are in general lusciously sweet, as they will only remain good with a large proportion of sugar; and if there be no favourable place of storage for them they soon spoil. When drained and well dried, they may much more easily be kept uninjured. The general directions for them, which we append, and the receipts for dried gooseberries, cherries, and apricots which we have inserted here will be sufficient for the guidance of the reader who may wish to attempt them.

_Fourneau Economique_, or Portable French Furnace, with Stewpan and
Trivet.
No. 1. Portable French Furnace.—2. Depth at which the grating is
placed.—3. Stewpan.—4.
Trivet.
]

Closed Furnace and Cover.
]

Grating.
]

Trevet.
]

The small portable French stove, or furnace, shown in the preceding page, with the trivet and stewpan adapted to it, is exceedingly convenient for all preparations which require either more than usual attention, or a fire entirely free from smoke; as it can be placed on a table in a clear light, and the heat can be regulated at pleasure. It has been used for many of the preserves of which the receipts are given in this chapter, as well as for various dishes contained in the body of the work. There should always be a free current of air in the room in which it stands when lighted, as charcoal or _braise_ (that is to say, the live embers of large well-burned wood, drawn from an oven and shut immediately into a closely-stopped iron or copper vessel to extinguish them) is the only fuel suited to it. To kindle either of these, two or three bits must be lighted in a common fire, and laid on the top of that in the furnace, which should be evenly placed between the grating and the brim, and then blown gently with the bellows until the whole is alight: the door of the furnace must in the mean while be open, and remain so, unless the heat should at any time be too fierce for the preserves, when it must be closed for a few minutes, to moderate it. To extinguish the fire altogether, the cover must be pressed closely on, and the door be quite shut: the embers which remain will serve to rekindle it easily, but before it is again lighted the grating must be lifted out and all the ashes cleared away. It should be set by in a place which is not damp. In a common grate a clear fire for preserving may be made with coke, which is a degree less unwholesome than charcoal.

The enamelled stewpans which have now come into general use, are, from the peculiar nicety of the composition with which they are lined, better adapted than any others to pickling and preserving, as they may be used without danger for acids; and red fruits when boiled in them retain the brightness of their colour as well as if copper or bell-metal were used for them. The form of the old-fashioned preserving-pan, made usually of one or the other of these, is shown here; but it has not, we should say, even the advantage of being of convenient shape; for the handles quickly become heated, and the pan, in consequence, cannot always be instantaneously raised from the fire when the contents threaten to over-boil or to burn.

Copper preserving-pan.
]

It is desirable to have three or four wooden spoons or spatulas, one fine hair-sieve, at the least, one or two large squares of common muslin, and one strainer or more of closer texture, kept exclusively for preparations of fruit; for if used for other purposes, there is the hazard, without great care, of their retaining some strong or coarse flavour, which they would impart to the preserves. A sieve, for example, used habitually for soup or gravy, should never, _on any account_, be brought into use for any kind of confectionary, nor in making sweet dishes, nor for straining eggs or milk for puddings, cakes, or bread. Damp is the great enemy, not only of preserves and pickles, but of numberless other household stores; yet, in many situations, it is extremely difficult to exclude it. To keep them in a “_dry cool place_” (words which occur so frequently both in this book, and in most others on the same subject), is more easily directed than done. They remain, we find, more entirely free from any danger of moulding, when covered with a brandied paper only, and placed on the shelves of a tolerably dry store-room, or in a chiffoneer (in which we have had them keep unchanged for years). When the slightest fermentation is perceptible in syrup, it should immediately be boiled for some minutes, and well skimmed; the fruit taken from it should then be thrown in, and well scalded also, and the whole, when done, should be turned into a very clean dry jar; this kind of preserve should always be covered with one or two skins or with parchment and thick paper when it is not secured from the air with corks.

A FEW GENERAL RULES AND DIRECTIONS FOR PRESERVING.

1. Let everything used for the purpose be delicately clean and _dry_; bottles especially so.

2. Never place a preserving-pan _flat upon the fire_, as this will render the preserve liable to _burn to_, as it is called; that is to say, to adhere closely to the metal, and then to burn; it should rest always on a trivet (that shown with the French furnace is very convenient even for a common grate), or on the lowered bar of a kitchen range when there is no regular preserving stove in a house.

3. After the sugar is added to them, stir the preserves gently at first, and more quickly towards the end, without quitting them until they are done: this precaution will always prevent the chance of their being spoiled.

4. All preserves should be perfectly cleared from the scum as it rises.

5. Fruit which is to be preserved in syrup must first be blanched or boiled gently, until it is sufficiently softened to absorb the sugar; and a thin syrup must be poured on it at first, or it will shrivel instead of remaining plump, and becoming clear. Thus, if its weight of sugar is to be allowed, and boiled to a syrup with a pint of water to the pound, only half the weight must be taken at first, and this must not be boiled with the water more than fifteen or twenty minutes at the commencement of the process; a part of the remaining sugar must be added every time the syrup is reboiled, unless it should be otherwise directed in the receipt.

6. To preserve both the true flavour and the colour of fruit in jams and jellies, boil them rapidly until they are well reduced, _before_ the sugar is added, and quickly afterwards, but do not allow them to become so much thickened that the sugar will not dissolve in them easily, and throw up its scum. In some seasons, the juice is so much richer than in others, that this effect takes place almost before one is aware of it; but the drop which adheres to the skimmer when it is held up, will show the state it has reached.

7. Never use tin, iron, or pewter spoons, or skimmers, for preserves, as they will convert the colour of red fruit into a dingy purple, and impart, besides, a very unpleasant flavour.

8. When cheap jams or jellies are required, make them at once with Lisbon sugar, but use that which is _well refined_ always, for preserves in general; it is a false economy, as we have elsewhere observed, to purchase an inferior kind, as there is great waste from it in the quantity of scum which it throws up. The _best_ has been used for all the receipts given here.

9. Let fruit for preserving be gathered always in perfectly dry weather, and be free both from the morning and evening dew, and as much so as possible from dust. When bottled, it must be steamed or baked during the day on which it is gathered, or there will be a great loss from the bursting of the bottles; and for jams and jellies it cannot be too soon boiled down after it is taken from the trees.

TO EXTRACT THE JUICE OF PLUMS FOR JELLY.

Take the stalks from the fruit, and throw aside all that is not perfectly sound: put it into very clean, large stone jars, and give part of the harder kinds, such as bullaces and damson, a gash with a knife as they are thrown in; do this especially in filling the upper part of the jars. Tie one or two folds of thick paper over them, and set them for the night into an oven from which the bread has been drawn four or five hours; or cover them with bladder, instead of paper, place them in pans, or in a copper[166] with water which will reach to quite two-thirds of their height, and boil them gently from two to three hours, or until the fruit is quite soft, and has yielded all the juice it will afford: this last is the safer and better mode for jellies of delicate colour.

Footnote 166:

The fruit steams perfectly in this, if the cover be placed over.

TO WEIGH THE JUICE OF FRUIT.

Put a basin into one scale, and its weight into the other; add to this last the weight which is required of the juice, and pour into the basin as much as will balance the scales. It is always better to weigh than to _measure_ the juice for preserving, as it can generally be done with more exactness.

RHUBARB JAM.

The stalks of the rhubarb (or spring-fruit, as it is called) should be taken for this preserve, which is a very good and useful one, while they are fresh and young. Wipe them very clean, pare them quickly, weigh, and cut them into half-inch lengths; to every pound add an equal weight of good sugar in fine powder; mix them well together, let them remain for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour to draw out the juice a little, then turn them into a preserving-pan, let them heat rather slowly, but as soon as the stalks are tender boil the preserve rapidly, stirring it well for about half an hour. It will be of excellent flavour, and will serve admirably for tarts.

A somewhat cheaper mode of making the jam is to stew it until tender in its own juices, and then to boil it rapidly until it is tolerably dry, to add to it only half its weight of sugar, and to give it from twenty to thirty minutes boiling.

Spring fruit (rhubarb), 4 lbs.; sugar, 4 lbs.: heated slowly, and when tender, boiled quickly, 30 minutes.

GREEN GOOSEBERRY JELLY.

Wash some freshly gathered gooseberries very clean; after having taken off the tops and stalks, then to each pound pour three-quarters of a pint of spring water, and simmer them until they are well broken; turn the whole into a jelly-bag or cloth, and let all the juice drain through; weigh and boil it rapidly for fifteen minutes. Draw it from the fire, and stir in it until entirely dissolved, an equal weight of good sugar reduced to powder; boil the jelly from fifteen to twenty minutes longer, or until it jellies strongly on the spoon or skimmer; clear it perfectly from scum, and pour it into small jars, moulds, or glasses. It ought to be very pale and transparent. The sugar may be added to the juice at first, and the preserve boiled from twenty-five to thirty-five minutes, but the colour will not then be so good. When the fruit abounds, the juice may be drawn from it with very little water, as directed for apples, page 523, when it will require much less boiling.

Gooseberries, 6 lbs.; water, 4 pints: 20 to 30 minutes. Juice boiled quickly, 15 minutes; to each pound, 1 pound sugar: 15 to 20 minutes.

GREEN GOOSEBERRY JAM.

(_Firm and of good colour._)

Cut the stalks and tops from the fruit, weigh and bruise it slightly, boil it for six or seven minutes, keeping it well turned during the time, then to every three pounds of gooseberries add two and a half of sugar beaten to powder, and boil the preserve quickly for three-quarters of an hour. It must be constantly stirred, and carefully cleared from scum. This makes a fine, firm, and refreshing preserve if the fruit be rubbed through a sieve before the sugar is added. If well reduced afterwards, it may be converted into a _gâteau_, or gooseberry-solid, with three pounds of sugar, or even a smaller proportion. The preceding jam will often turn in perfect form from the moulds or jars which contain it; and if freed from the seeds, would be very excellent: it is extremely good even made as above. For all preserves, the _reduction_, or boiling down to a certain consistence, should take place principally before the sugar is mingled with them; and this has the best effect when added to the fruit and dissolved in it by degrees.

Green gooseberries, 6 lbs.: 6 to 7 minutes. Sugar, 5 lbs.; 3/4 hour.

TO DRY GREEN GOOSEBERRIES.

Take the finest green gooseberries, fully grown, and freshly gathered; cut off the buds, split them across the tops half way down, and with the small end of a tea or of an egg spoon, scoop out the seeds. Boil together for fifteen minutes a pound and a half of the finest sugar, and a pint of water; skim this syrup thoroughly and throw into it a pound of the seeded gooseberries; simmer them from five to seven minutes, when they ought to be clear and tender; when they are so, lift them out, and throw as many more into the syrup; drain them a little when done, spread them singly on dishes, and dry them _very_ gradually in a quite cool stove or oven, or in a sunny window. They will keep well in the syrup, and may be potted in it, and dried when wanted for use.

Green gooseberries without seeds, 2 lbs.; water, 1 pint; sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: boiled, 15 minutes. Gooseberries simmered, 5 to 7 minutes.

GREEN GOOSEBERRIES FOR TARTS.

Fill very clean, dry, wide-necked bottles with gooseberries gathered the same day, and before they have attained their full growth. Cork them lightly, wrap a little hay round each of them, and set them up to their necks in a copper of cold water which should be brought very gradually to boil. Let the fruit be gently simmered until it appears shrunken and perfectly scalded; then take out the bottles, and with the contents of one or two fill up the remainder, and use great care not to break the fruit in doing this. When all are ready pour _scalding_ water into the bottles and cover the gooseberries entirely with it, or they will become mouldy at the top. Cork the bottles well immediately, and cover the necks with melted resin; keep them in a cool place; and when the gooseberries are used pour off the greater part of the water, and add sugar as for the fresh fruit, of which they will have the flavour and appearance; and they will be found more wholesome prepared in this manner than if simply baked or steamed in the bottles.

RED GOOSEBERRY JAM.

The small rough red gooseberry, when fully ripe, is the best for this preserve, which may, however, be made of the larger kinds. When the tops and stalks have been taken carefully from the fruit, weigh, and boil it quickly for three-quarters of an hour, keeping it well stirred; then for six pounds of the gooseberries, add two and a half of good roughly-powdered sugar; boil these together briskly, from twenty to twenty-five minutes and stir the jam well from the bottom of the pan, as it is liable to burn if this be neglected.

Small red gooseberries, 6 lbs.: 3/4 hour. Pounded sugar, 2-1/2 lbs.: 20 to 25 minutes.

VERY FINE GOOSEBERRY JAM.

Seed the fruit, which for this jam may be of the larger kind of rough red gooseberry: those which are smooth skinned are generally of far inferior flavour. Add the pulp which has been scooped from the prepared fruit to some whole gooseberries, and stir them over a moderate fire for some minutes to extract the juice; strain and weigh this; pour two pounds of it to four of the seeded gooseberries, boil them rather gently for twenty-five minutes, add fourteen ounces of good pounded sugar to each pound of fruit and juice, and when it is dissolved boil the preserve from twelve to fifteen minutes longer, and skim it well during the time.

Seeded gooseberries, 4 lbs.; juice of gooseberries, 2 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 5-1/4 lbs. (or 14 oz. to each pound of fruit and juice): 12 to 15 minutes.

JELLY OF RIPE GOOSEBERRIES.

(_Excellent._)

Take the tops and stalks from a gallon or more of any kind of well-flavoured ripe red gooseberries, and keep them stirred gently over a clear fire until they have yielded all their juice, which should then be poured off without pressing the fruit, and passed first through a fine sieve, and afterwards through a double muslin-strainer, or a jelly-bag. Next weigh it, and to every three pounds add one of white currant juice, which has previously been prepared in the same way; boil these quickly for a quarter of an hour, then draw them from the fire and stir to them half their weight of good sugar; when this is dissolved, boil the jelly for six minutes longer, skim it thoroughly, and pour it into jars or moulds. If a very large quantity be made, a few minutes of additional boiling must be given to it _before_ the sugar is added.

Juice of red gooseberries, 3 lbs.; juice of white currants, 1 lb.: 15 minutes. Sugar, 2 lbs.: 6 minutes.

_Obs._—The same proportion of red currant juice, mixed with that of the gooseberries, makes an exceedingly nice jelly.

UNMIXED GOOSEBERRY JELLY.

Boil rapidly for ten minutes four pounds of the juice of red gooseberries, prepared as in the preceding receipt; take it from the fire, and stir in it until dissolved three pounds of sugar beaten to powder; boil it again for five minutes, keeping it constantly stirred and thoroughly skimmed.

Juice of red gooseberries, 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 5 minutes.

GOOSEBERRY PASTE.

Press through a sieve the gooseberries from which the juice has been taken for jelly, without having been drained very closely from them; weigh and then boil the pulp for upwards of an hour and a quarter, or until it forms a dry paste in the pan; stir to it, off the fire, six ounces of good pounded sugar for each pound of the fruit, and when this is nearly dissolved boil the preserve from twenty to twenty-five minutes, keeping it stirred without cessation, as it will be liable to burn should this be neglected. Put it into moulds, or shallow pans, and turn it out when wanted for table.

Pulp of gooseberries, 4 lbs.: 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 to 25 minutes.

TO DRY RIPE GOOSEBERRIES WITH SUGAR.

Cut the tops, but not the stalks, from some ripe gooseberries of the largest size, either red or green ones, and after having taken out the seeds as directed for unripe gooseberries, boil the fruit until clear and tender, in syrup made with a pound of sugar to the pint of water, boiled until rather thick.

Seeded gooseberries, 2 lbs.; sugar, 1-1/2 lb.; water, 1 pint: boiled to syrup. Gooseberries, simmered 8 to 12 minutes, or more.

_Obs._—Large ripe gooseberries freed from the blossoms, and put into cold syrup in which cherries or any other fruit has been boiled for drying, then heated very gradually, and kept at the point of boiling for a few minutes before they are set by for a couple of days, answer extremely well as a dry preserve. On the third day the syrup should be drained from them, simmered, skimmed, and poured on them the instant it is taken from the fire; in forty-eight hours after, they may be drained from it and laid singly upon plates or dishes, and placed in a gentle stove.

JAM OF KENTISH OR FLEMISH CHERRIES.

This is a very agreeable preserve when it is made as we shall direct; but if long boiled with a large proportion of sugar, as it frequently is, both the bright colour and the pleasant flavour of the cherries will be destroyed.

Stone, and then weigh the fruit; heat it rather slowly that the juice may be well drawn out before it begins to boil, and stew the cherries until they are tolerably tender, then boil them quickly, keeping them well turned and stirred from the bottom of the pan, for three-quarters of an hour or somewhat longer should there still remain a large quantity of juice. Draw the pan from the fire, and stir in gradually half a pound of sugar for each pound of cherries. An ounce or two more may occasionally be required when the fruit is more than usually acid, and also when a quite sweet preserve is liked. When the sugar is dissolved continue the boiling rapidly for about twenty minutes longer; clear off all the scum as it appears, and keep the jam stirred _well_ and constantly, but not quickly, to prevent its adhering to the bottom of the preserving-pan.

Stoned Kentish or Flemish cherries, 6 lbs.: without sugar, 1 hour or rather more. Sugar roughly powdered, 3 lbs.: (or 3-1/2 lbs.) About 20 minutes quick boiling.

_Obs._—Heat the fruit and boil it gently until it is quite tender, turning it often, and pressing it down into the juice; then quicken the boiling to evaporate the juice before the sugar is added. Cherries which are bruised will not make good preserve: they always remain tough.

TO DRY CHERRIES WITH SUGAR.

(_A quick and easy method._)

Stone some fine, sound, Kentish or Flemish cherries; put them into a preserving-pan, with six ounces of sugar reduced to powder, to each pound of the fruit; set them over a moderate fire, and simmer them gently for nearly or quite twenty minutes; let them remain in the syrup until they are a little cooled, then turn them into a sieve, and before they are cold lay them singly on dishes, and dry them very gradually, as directed for other fruits. When the cherries are quite ripe the stones may generally be drawn out with the stalks, by pressing the fruit gently at the same time; but when this method fails, they must be extracted with a new quill, cut round at the end: those of the _very_ short-stalked, turnip-shaped cherry, which abounds, and is remarkably fine in many parts of Normandy, and which we have occasionally met with here, though it is not, we believe, very abundant in our markets, are easily removed with a large pin, on the point of which the stone may be caught at the stalk end, just opposite the seam of the fruit, and drawn out at the top, leaving the cherry apparently entire.

DRIED CHERRIES.

(_Superior Receipt._)

To each pound of cherries weighed after they are stoned, add eight ounces of good sugar, and boil them very softly for ten minutes: pour them into a large bowl or pan, and leave them for two days in the syrup; then simmer them again for ten minutes, and set them by in it for two or three days; drain them slightly, and dry them very slowly, as directed in the previous receipts. Keep them in jars or tin canisters, when done. These cherries are generally preferred to such as are dried with a larger proportion of sugar; but when the taste is in favour of the latter, from twelve to sixteen ounces can be allowed to the pound of fruit, which may then be potted in the syrup and dried at any time; though we think the flavour of the cherries is better preserved when this is done within a fortnight of their being boiled.

Cherries, stoned, 8 lbs.; sugar, 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. Left two or three days. Boiled again, 10 minutes; left two days; drained and dried.

CHERRIES DRIED WITHOUT SUGAR.

These are often more pleasant and refreshing to invalids and travellers than a sweetened confection of the fruit, their flavour and agreeable acidity being well preserved when they are simply spread on dishes or hamper-lids, and slowly dried.[167] Throw aside the bruised and decayed fruit, and arrange the remainder singly, and with the stalks uppermost on the dishes. The Kentish cherries are best for the purpose, but morellas also answer for it excellently. The former are sometimes stoned, and simmered until quite tender in their own juice, before they are dried; but this is scarcely an improvement on the more usual method of leaving them entire.

Footnote 167:

The dishes on which they are laid should be changed daily.

TO DRY MORELLA CHERRIES.

Take off the stalks but do not stone the fruit; weigh and add to it an equal quantity of the best sugar reduced quite to powder, strew it over the cherries and let them stand for half an hour; then turn them gently into a preserving-pan, and simmer them softly from five to seven minutes. Drain them from the syrup, and dry them like the Kentish cherries. They make a _very fine_ confection.

COMMON CHERRY CHEESE.

Stone the fruit, or if this trouble be objected to, bruise and boil it without, until it is sufficiently tender to press through a sieve, which it will be in from twenty to thirty minutes. Weigh the pulp in this case, and boil it quickly to a dry paste, then stir to it six ounces of sugar for the pound of fruit, and when this is dissolved, place the pan again over, but not _upon_, a brisk fire, and stir the preserve without ceasing, until it is so dry as not to adhere to the finger when touched; then press it immediately into small moulds or pans, and turn it from them when wanted for table. When the cherries have been stoned, a good common preserve may be made of them without passing them through a sieve, with the addition of five ounces of sugar to the pound of fruit, which must be boiled very dry both before and after it is added.

Kentish or Flemish cherries without stoning: 20 to 30 minutes. Passed through a sieve. To each pound of pulp (first boiled dry), 6 oz. sugar. To each pound of cherries stoned and boiled to a dry paste, 5 oz. sugar.

CHERRY PASTE. (FRENCH.)

Stone the cherries; boil them gently in their own juice for thirty minutes; press the whole through a sieve; reduce it to a very dry paste; then take it from the fire, and weigh it; boil an equal proportion of sugar to the candying point; mix the fruit with it; and stir the paste, without intermission, over a moderate fire, until it is again so dry as to form a ball round the spoon, and to quit the preserving-pan entirely; press it quickly into small moulds, and when it is cold, paper, and store it like other preserves.

STRAWBERRY JAM.

Strip the stalks from some fine scarlet strawberries, weigh, and boil them for thirty-five minutes, keeping them very constantly stirred; throw in eight ounces of good sugar, beaten small, to the pound of fruit; mix them well off the fire, then boil the preserve again quickly for twenty-five minutes.

Strawberries, 6 lbs.: 35 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 25 minutes.

_Obs._—We do not think it needful to give directions with each separate receipt for skimming the preserve with care, and keeping it constantly stirred, but neither should in any case be neglected.

STRAWBERRY-JELLY.

_A very Superior Preserve._ (_New Receipt._)

The original directions for this delicious jelly, published in the earlier editions of this work, were the result of perfectly successful trials made in the summer of their insertion; but, after much additional experience, we find that the receipt may be better adapted to our varying seasons, which so much affect the quality of our fruit, and rendered more certain in its results by some alterations; we therefore give it anew, recommending it strongly for trial, especially to such of our readers as can command from their own gardens ample supplies of strawberries in their best and freshest state. Like all fruit intended for preserving, they should be gathered in dry weather, after the morning dew has quite passed off them, and be used the same day. Strip away the stalks, and put the strawberries into an enamelled stewpan if at hand, and place it very high over a clear fire, that the juice may be drawn from them gently; turn them over with a silver or wooden spoon from time to time, and when the juice has flowed from them abundantly, let them simmer until they shrink, but be sure to take them from the fire before the juice becomes thick or pulpy from over-boiling. Thirty minutes, or sometimes even longer, over a _very_ slow fire, will not be too much to extract it from them. Turn them into a new, well-scalded, but _dry_ sieve over a clean pan, and let them remain until the juice ceases to drop from them; strain it then through a muslin strainer, weigh it in a basin, of which the weight must first be taken, and boil it quickly in a clean preserving-pan from fifteen to twenty minutes, and stir it often during the time: then take it from the fire, and throw in by degrees, for every pound of juice, fourteen ounces of the best sugar coarsely pounded, stirring each portion until it is dissolved. Place the pan again over the fire, and boil the jelly—still quickly—for about a quarter of an hour. Occasionally it may need a rather longer time than this, and sometimes less: the exact degree can only be ascertained by a little experience, in consequence of the juice of some varieties of the fruit being so much thinner than that of others. The preserve should jelly strongly on the skimmer, and fall in a mass from it before it is poured out; but if boiled beyond this point it will be spoiled. If made with richly-flavoured strawberries, and carefully managed, it will be very brilliant in colour, and in flavour really equal if not superior to guava jelly; while it will retain all the delicious odour of the fruit. No skimmer or other utensil of tin should be used in making it; and an enamelled preserving-pan is preferable to any other for all red fruit. It becomes very firm often after it is stored, when it appears scarcely set in the first instance; it is, however, desirable that it should jelly at once.

Fruit kept hot to draw out the juice, 1/2 hour or longer. Boiled quickly without sugar, 15 to 20 minutes. To each pound 14 oz. of sugar: 12 to 15 minutes.

TO PRESERVE STRAWBERRIES OR RASPBERRIES, FOR CREAMS OR ICES, WITHOUT
BOILING.

Let the fruit be gathered in the middle of a warm day, in very dry weather; strip it from the stalks directly, weigh it, bruise it _slightly_, turn it into a bowl or deep pan, and mix with it an equal weight of fine dry sifted sugar, and put immediately into small, wide-necked bottles; cork these firmly without delay, and tie bladder over the tops. Keep them in a cool place, or the fruit will ferment. The mixture should be stirred softly, and only just sufficiently to blend the sugar and the fruit. The bottles must be perfectly dry, and the bladders, after having been cleaned in the usual way, and allowed to become nearly so, should be moistened with a little spirit on the side which is to be next to the cork. Unless these precautions be observed, there will be some danger of the whole being spoiled.

Equal weight of fruit and sugar.

RASPBERRY JAM.

This is a very favourite English preserve, and one of the most easily made that can be. The fruit for it should be ripe and perfectly sound; and as it soon decays or becomes mouldy after it is gathered, it should be fresh from the bushes when it is used. That which grows in the shade has less flavour than the fruit which receives the full warmth of the sun.

Excellent jam for common family use may be made as follows:— Bruise gently with the back of a wooden spoon, six pounds of ripe and freshly-gathered raspberries, and boil them over a brisk fire for twenty-five minutes; stir to them half their weight of good sugar, roughly powdered, and when it is dissolved, boil the preserve quickly for ten minutes, keeping it well stirred and skimmed.

Raspberries, 6 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

VERY RICH RASPBERRY JAM OR MARMALADE.

No. 1.—Weigh the finest fruit that can be procured, and bruise it with the back of a wooden spoon after it is put into the preserving-pan. Boil it gently, keeping it well turned, for about five minutes, then stir to it gradually nearly or quite its weight of dry pounded sugar, and continue the boiling rather rapidly for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, and be careful to remove all the scum as it rises. The preserve will be clear, smooth, and very thick when it is sufficiently boiled, and should then be taken from the pan without delay, as it will very quickly _set_.

No. 2.—Draw gently from the smallest of the raspberries from half to a whole pound of juice, and boil down in this three pounds of the fruit, after it has been crushed with a spoon as usual. In ten minutes, if the fruit be quite ripe, the sugar may be added. Three pounds to four of the raspberries and their juice, will make a quite sweet preserve. It should be gradually stirred in until dissolved, and not be allowed to boil during the time. Ten or fifteen minutes will then suffice generally to bring it to the proper degree for jellying firmly.

No. 1.—Fine raspberries: 5 minutes. Sugar, nearly or quite equal weight: 15 to 20 minutes.

No. 2.—Raspberry-juice, 1 lb.; ripe raspberries, 3 lbs. (or 4): 10 minutes. To each pound of fruit and juice, sugar 3/4 lb.: 10 to 15 minutes.

_Obs._—All fruit jams are much improved by the addition of a certain portion of juice to the fruit which is boiled down; they then partake more of the nature of jelly.

GOOD RED OR WHITE RASPBERRY JAM.

Boil quickly, for twenty minutes, four pounds of either red or white sound ripe raspberries in a pound and a half of currant-juice of the same colour; take the pan from the fire, stir in three pounds of sugar, and when it is dissolved, place the pan again over the fire, and continue the boiling for ten minutes longer: keep the preserve well skimmed and stirred from the beginning.

Raspberries, 4 lbs.; currant-juice, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

RASPBERRY JELLY FOR FLAVOURING CREAMS.

Take the stalks from some quite ripe and freshly-gathered raspberries, stir them over the fire until they render their juice freely, then strain and weigh it; or press it from them through a cloth, and then strain it clear; in either case boil it for five minutes after it is weighed, and for each pound stir in a pound and a quarter of good sugar reduced quite to powder, sifted, and made very hot; boil the preserve quickly for five minutes longer, and skim it clean. The jelly thus made will sufficiently sweeten the creams without any additional sugar.

Juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.: 5 minutes. Sugar, made hot, 5 lbs.: 5 minutes.

ANOTHER RASPBERRY JELLY.

(_Very Good._)

Bruise the fruit a _little_, and place it high above a clear fire, that the juice may be gently drawn from it: it may remain thus for twenty minutes or longer without boiling, and be simmered for four or five; strain and weigh it; boil it quickly for twenty minutes, draw it from the fire, add three-quarters of a pound of good sugar for each pound of juice, and when this is dissolved place the pan again on the fire, and boil the preserve _fast_ from twelve to fifteen minutes longer; skim it thoroughly, and keep it well stirred: the preserve will then require rather less boiling. When it jellies in falling from the spoon or skimmer, it is done. Nothing of tin or iron should be used in making it, as these metals will convert its fine red colour into a dull purple.

Fruit, simmered 5 to 6 minutes. Juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 12 to 15 minutes. Or: juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.; juice of white currants, 2 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 10 minutes, or less.

RED CURRANT JELLY.

With three parts of fine ripe red currants freshly gathered, and stripped from the stalks, mix one of white currants; put them into a clean preserving-pan, and stir them gently over a clear fire until the juice flows from them freely; then turn them into a fine hair-sieve, and let them drain well, but without pressure. Pass the juice through a folded muslin or a jelly-bag; weigh it, and then boil it _fast_ for a quarter of an hour; add for each pound, eight ounces of sugar coarsely powdered, stir this to it off the fire until it is dissolved, give the jelly eight minutes more of quick boiling, and pour it out. It will be firm, and of excellent colour and flavour. Be sure to clear off the scum as it rises, both before and after the sugar is put in, or the preserve will not be clear.

Juice of red currants, 3 lbs.; juice of white currants, 1 lb.: 15 minutes. Sugar, 2 lbs.: 8 minutes.

_Obs._—An excellent jelly may be made with equal parts of the juice of red and of white currants, and of raspberries, with the same proportion of sugar and degree of boiling as in the foregoing receipt.

SUPERLATIVE RED CURRANT JELLY.

(_Norman Receipt._)

Strip carefully from the stems some quite ripe currants of the finest quality, and mix with them an equal weight of _good_ sugar reduced to powder; boil these together quickly for exactly eight minutes, keep them stirred all the time, and clear off the scum—which will be very abundant—as it rises; then turn the preserve into a very clean sieve, and put into small jars the jelly which runs through it, and which will be delicious in flavour, and of the brightest colour. It should be carried immediately, when this is practicable, to an extremely cool but not a damp place, and left there until perfectly cold. The currants which remain in the sieve make an excellent jam, particularly if only part of the jelly be taken from them. In Normandy where the fruit is of richer quality than in England, this preserve is boiled only two minutes, and is both firm and beautifully transparent.

Currants, 3 lbs.; sugar, 3 lbs.: 8 minutes.

_Obs._—This receipt we are told by some of our correspondents is not generally quite successful in this country, as the jelly, though it keeps well and is of the finest possible flavour, is scarcely firm enough for table. We have ourselves found this to be the case in cold damp seasons; but the preserve even then was valuable for many purposes, and always agreeable eating.

FRENCH CURRANT JELLY.

Mix one-third of white currants with two of red, and stir them over a gentle fire until they render their juice freely; pour it from them, strain and weigh it; for every four pounds break three of fine sugar into large lumps, just dip them into cold water, and when they are nearly dissolved boil them to a thick syrup; stir this without ceasing until it falls in large thick white masses from the skimmer; then pour in the currant juice immediately, and when the sugar is again dissolved, boil the whole quickly for five minutes, clear off the scum perfectly, pour the jelly into jars or warm glasses, and set it in a cool place.

Red currants, two-thirds; white currants, one-third; juice, 4 lbs.; sugar boiled to candy height, 3 lbs.: jelly boiled, 5 minutes.

_Obs._—A flavouring of raspberries is usually given to currant jelly in France, the preserve being there never served with any kind of joint, as it is with us.

DELICIOUS RED CURRANT JAM.

This, which is but an indifferent preserve when made in the usual way, will be found a very fine one if the following directions for it be observed; it will be extremely transparent and bright in colour, and will retain perfectly the flavour of the fruit. Take the currants at the height of their season, the finest that can be had, free from dust, but gathered on a dry day; strip them with great care from the stalks, weigh and put them into a preserving-pan with three pounds of the best sugar reduced to powder, to four pounds of the fruit: stir them gently over a brisk clear fire, and boil them quickly for exactly eight minutes from the first full boil. As the jam is apt to rise over the top of the pan, it is better not to fill it more than two-thirds, and if this precaution should not be sufficient to prevent it, it must be lifted from the fire and held away for an instant. To many tastes, a still finer jam than this (which we find sufficiently sweet) may be made with an equal weight of fruit and sugar boiled together for seven minutes. There should be great exactness with respect to the time, as both the flavour and the brilliant colour of the preserve will be injured by longer boiling.

Red currants (without stalks), 4 lbs.; fine sugar, 3 lbs.: boiled quickly, 8 minutes. Or, equal weight fruit and sugar: 7 minutes.

VERY FINE WHITE CURRANT JELLY.

The fruit for this jelly should be very white, perfectly free from dust, and picked carefully from the stalks. To every pound add eighteen ounces of double refined sifted sugar, and boil them together quickly for eight minutes; pour it into a delicately clean sieve, and finish it by the directions given for the Norman red currant jelly (page 559).

White currants, 6 lbs.; highly refined sugar, 6-3/4 lbs.: 6 minutes.

WHITE CURRANT JAM, A BEAUTIFUL PRESERVE.

Boil together quickly for seven minutes an equal weight of fine white currants, stalked with the greatest nicety, and of the best sugar pounded and passed through a sieve. Stir the preserve gently the whole time, and be careful to skim it thoroughly.

White currants, 4 lbs.; best sugar, 4 lbs.: 7 minutes.

CURRANT PASTE.

Stalk and heat some red currants as for jelly, pour off three parts of the juice, which can be used for that preserve, and press the remainder, with the pulp of the fruit, closely through a hair sieve reversed; boil it briskly, keeping it stirred the whole time, until it forms a dry paste; then for each pound (when first weighed) add seven ounces of pounded sugar, and boil the whole from twenty-five to thirty minutes longer, taking care that it shall not burn. This paste is remarkably pleasant and refreshing in cases of fever, and acceptable often for winter-desserts.

Red currants boiled from 5 to 7 minutes, pressed with one-fourth of their juice through a sieve, boiled from 1-1/2 to 2 hour. To each pound 7 oz. pounded sugar: 25 to 30 minutes.

_Obs._—Confectioners add the pulp, after it is boiled dry, to an equal weight of sugar at the candy height: by making trial of the two methods, the reader can decide on the better one.

FINE BLACK CURRANT JELLY.

Stir some black currants over the fire until they have yielded their juice; strain, weigh, and boil it for twenty minutes; add to it three pounds and a half of sifted sugar of good quality, made quite hot, and when it is dissolved boil the jelly for five minutes only, clearing off the scum with care. This, though an excellent preserve, is too sweet for our own taste, and we think one made with less sugar likely to be more acceptable in cases of indisposition generally.

Juice of black currants, 4 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3-1/2 lbs.: 5 minutes.

COMMON BLACK CURRANT JELLY.

Boil from three to six pounds of the juice rapidly for twenty minutes, stirring it well; then mix with it off the fire, half a pound of sugar for each pound of juice, and continue the boiling for ten minutes.

Juice of black currants, 3 to 6 lbs.: 20 minutes. To each pound juice 1/2 lb. good sugar: 10 minutes.

_Obs._—This jelly may be made with Lisbon sugar, but will then require rather more boiling.

BLACK CURRANT JAM AND MARMALADE.

No fruit jellies so easily as black currants when they are ripe; and their juice is so rich and thick that it will bear the addition of a very small quantity of water sometimes, without causing the preserve to mould. When the currants have been very dusty, we have occasionally had them washed and drained before they were used, without any injurious effects. Jam boiled down in the usual manner with this fruit is often very dry. It may be greatly improved by taking out nearly half the currants when it is ready to be potted, pressing them well against the side of the preserving-pan to extract the juice: this leaves the remainder far more liquid and refreshing than when the skins are all retained. Another mode of making fine black currant jam—as well as that of any other fruit—is to add one pound at least of juice, extracted as for jelly, to two pounds of the berries, and to allow sugar for it in the same proportion as directed for each pound of them.

For marmalade or paste, which is most useful in affections of the throat and chest, the currants must be stewed tender in their own juice, and then rubbed through a sieve. After ten minutes’ boiling, sugar in fine powder must be stirred gradually to the pulp, off the fire, until it is dissolved: a few minutes more of boiling will then suffice to render the preserve thick, and it will become quite firm when cold. More or less sugar can be added to the taste, but it is not generally liked very sweet.

_Best black currant jam._—Currants, 4 lbs.; juice of currants, 2 lbs.: 15 to 20 minutes’ gentle boiling. Sugar, 3 to 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. _Marmalade, or paste of black currants._—Fruit, 4 lbs.: stewed in its own juice 15 minutes, or until quite soft. Pulp boiled 10 minutes. Sugar, from 7 to 9 oz. to the lb.: 10 to 14 minutes.

_Obs._—The following are the receipts originally inserted in this work, and which we leave unaltered.

To six pounds of the fruit, stripped carefully from the stalks, add four pounds and a half of sugar. Let them heat gently, but as soon as the sugar is dissolved boil the preserve rapidly for fifteen minutes. A more common kind of jam may be made by boiling the fruit by itself from ten to fifteen minutes, and for ten minutes after half its weight of sugar has been added to it.

Black currants, 6 lbs.; sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 15 minutes. Or: fruit, 6 lbs.: 10 to 15 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

_Obs._—There are few preparations of fruit so refreshing and so useful in illness as those of black currants, and it is therefore advisable always to have a store of them, and to have them well and carefully made.

NURSERY PRESERVE.

Take the stones from a couple of pounds of Kentish cherries, and boil them twenty minutes; then add to them a pound and a half of raspberries, and an equal quantity of red and of white currants, all weighed after they have been cleared from their stems. Boil these together quickly for twenty minutes; mix with them three pounds and a quarter of common sugar, and give the preserve fifteen minutes more of quick boiling. A pound and a half of gooseberries may be substituted for the cherries; but they will not require any stewing before they are added to the other fruits. The jam must be well stirred from the beginning, or it will burn to the pan.

Kentish cherries, 2 lbs.: 20 minutes. Raspberries, red currants, and white currants, of each 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3-1/4 lbs.: 15 minutes.

ANOTHER GOOD COMMON PRESERVE.

Boil together, in equal or unequal portions (for this is immaterial), any kinds of early fruit, until they can be pressed through a sieve; weigh, and then boil the pulp over a brisk fire for half an hour; add half a pound of sugar for each pound of fruit, and again boil the preserve quickly, keeping it well stirred and skimmed, from fifteen to twenty minutes. Cherries, unless they be morellas, must first be stewed tender apart, as they will require a much longer time to make them so than any other of the first summer fruits.

A GOOD MÉLANGE, OR MIXED PRESERVE.

Boil for three-quarters of an hour in two pounds of clear red gooseberry juice, one pound of very ripe greengages, weighed after they have been pared and stoned; then stir to them one pound and a half of good sugar, and boil them quickly again for twenty minutes. If the quantity of preserve be much increased, the time of boiling it must be so likewise: this is always better done before the sugar is added.

Juice of ripe gooseberries, 2 lbs.; greengages, pared and stoned, 1 lb.: 3/4 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes.

GROSEILLÉE.

(_Another good preserve._)

Cut the tops and stalks from a gallon or more of well-flavoured ripe gooseberries, throw them into a large preserving-pan, boil them for ten minutes, and stir them often with a wooden spoon; then pass both the juice and pulp through a fine sieve, and to every three pounds’ weight of these add half a pint of raspberry-juice, and boil the whole briskly for three-quarters of an hour; draw the pan aside, stir in for the above portion of fruit, two pounds of sugar, and when it is dissolved renew the boiling for fifteen minutes longer. Ripe gooseberries, boiled 10 minutes. Pulp and juice of gooseberries, 6 lbs.; raspberry-juice, 1 pint: 3/4 hour. Sugar, 4 lbs.: 15 minutes.