Chapter XXIV: =Preserves.= (2)

_Obs._—When more convenient, a portion of raspberries can be boiled with the gooseberries at first.

SUPERIOR PINE-APPLE MARMALADE.

(_A New Receipt._)

The market-price of our English pines is generally too high to permit their being very commonly used for preserve; and though some of those imported from the West Indies are sufficiently well-flavoured to make excellent jam, they must be selected with judgment for the purpose, or they will possibly not answer for it. They should be fully ripe, but perfectly sound: should the stalk end appear mouldy or discoloured, the fruit should be rejected. The degree of flavour which it possesses may be ascertained with tolerable accuracy by its odour; for if of good quality, and fit for use, it will be _very_ fragrant. After the rinds have been pared off, and every dark speck taken from the flesh, the pines may be rasped on a fine and delicately clean grater, or sliced thin, cut up quickly into dice, and pounded in a stone or marble mortar; or a portion may be grated, and the remainder reduced to pulp in the mortar. Weigh, and then heat and boil it gently for ten minutes; draw it from the fire, and stir to it by degrees fourteen ounces of sugar to the pound of fruit; boil it until it thickens and becomes very transparent, which it will be in about fifteen minutes, should the quantity be small: it will require a rather longer time if it be large. The sugar ought to be of the best quality and beaten quite to powder; and for this, as well as for every other kind of preserve, it should be _dry_. A remarkably fine marmalade may be compounded of English pines only, or even with one English pine of superior growth, and two or three of the West Indian mixed with it; but all when used should be _fully ripe_, without at all verging on decay; for in no other state will their delicious flavour be in its perfection.

In making the jam always avoid placing the preserving-pan _flat upon the fire_, as this of itself will often convert what would otherwise be excellent preserve, into a strange sort of compound, for which it is difficult to find a name, and which results from the sugar being subjected—when in combination with the acid of the fruit—to a degree of heat which converts it into _caramel_ or highly-boiled barley-sugar. When there is no regular preserving-stove, a flat trivet should be securely placed across the fire of the kitchen-range to raise the pan from immediate contact with the burning coals, or charcoal. It is better to grate down, than to pound the fruit for the present receipt should any parts of it be ever so slightly tough; and it should then be slowly stewed until quite tender before any sugar is added to it; or with only a very small quantity stirred in should it become too dry. A superior marmalade even to this, might probably be made by adding to the rasped pines a little juice drawn by a gentle heat, or expressed cold, from inferior portions of the fruit; but this is only supposition.

A FINE PRESERVE OF THE GREEN ORANGE PLUM.

(_Sometimes called the Stonewood plum._)

This fruit, which is very insipid when ripe, makes an excellent preserve if used when at its full growth, but while it is still quite hard and green. Take off the stalks, weigh the plums, then gash them well (with a silver knife, if convenient) as they are thrown into the preserving-pan, and keep them gently stirred without ceasing over a moderate fire, until they have yielded sufficient juice to prevent their burning; after this, boil them quickly until the stones are entirely detached from the flesh of the fruit. Take them out as they appear on the surface, and when the preserve looks quite smooth and is well reduced, stir in three-quarters of a pound of sugar beaten to a powder, for each pound of the plums, and boil the whole very quickly for half an hour or more. Put it, when done, into small moulds or pans, and it will be sufficiently firm when cold to turn out well: it will also be transparent, of a fine green colour, and very agreeable in flavour.

Orange plums, when green, 6 lbs.: 40 to 60 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 30 to 50 minutes.

_Obs._—The blanched kernels of part of the fruit should be added to this preserve a few minutes before it is poured out: if too long boiled in it they will become tough. They should always be wiped very dry after they are blanched.

GREENGAGE JAM, OR MARMALADE.

When the plums are thoroughly ripe, take off the skins, stone, weigh, and boil them quickly without sugar for fifty minutes, keeping them well stirred; then to every four pounds add three of good sugar reduced quite to powder, boil the preserve from five to eight minutes longer, and clear off the scum perfectly before it is poured into the jars. When the flesh of the fruit will not separate easily from the stones, weigh and throw the plums whole into the preserving-pan, boil them to a pulp, pass them through a sieve, and deduct the weight of the stones from them when apportioning the sugar to the jam. The Orleans plum may be substituted for greengages in this receipt.

Greengages, stoned and skinned, 6 lbs.: 50 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 5 to 8 minutes.

PRESERVE OF THE MAGNUM BONUM, OR MOGUL PLUM.

Prepare, weigh, and boil the plums for forty minutes; stir to them half their weight of good sugar beaten fine, and when it is dissolved continue the boiling for ten additional minutes, and skim the preserve carefully during the time. This is an excellent marmalade, but it may be rendered richer by increasing the proportion of sugar. The blanched kernels of a portion of the fruit stones will much improve its flavour, but they should be mixed with it only two or three minutes before it is taken from the fire. When the plums are not entirely ripe, it is difficult to free them from the stones and skins: they should then be boiled down and pressed through a sieve, as directed for greengages, in the receipt above.

Mogul plums, skinned and stoned, 6 lbs.: 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 5 to 8 minutes.

TO DRY OR PRESERVE MOGUL PLUMS IN SYRUP.

Pare the plums, but do not remove the stalks or stones; take their weight of dry sifted sugar, lay them into a deep dish or bowl, and strew it over them; let them remain thus for a night, then pour them gently into a preserving-pan with all the sugar, heat them slowly, and let them just simmer for five minutes; in two days repeat the process, and do so again and again at an interval of two or three days, until the fruit is tender and very clear; put it then into jars, and keep it in the syrup, or drain and dry the plums very gradually, as directed for other fruit. When they are not sufficiently ripe for the skin to part from them readily, they must be covered with spring water, placed over a slow fire, and just scalded until it can be stripped from them easily. They may also be entirely prepared by the receipt for dried apricots which follows, a page or two from this.

MUSSEL PLUM CHEESE AND JELLY.

Fill large stone jars with the fruit, which should be ripe, dry, and sound; set them into an oven from which the bread has been drawn several hours, and let them remain all night; or, if this cannot conveniently be done, place them in pans of water, and boil them gently until the plums are tender, and have yielded their juice to the utmost. Pour this from them, strain it through a jelly bag, weigh, and then boil it rapidly for twenty-five minutes. Have ready, broken small, three pounds of sugar for four of the juice, stir them together until it is dissolved, and then continue the boiling quickly for ten minutes longer, and be careful to remove all the scum. Pour the preserve into small moulds or pans, and turn it out when it is wanted for table: it will be very fine, both in colour and in flavour.

Juice of plums, 4 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

The cheese.—Skin and stone the plums from which the juice has been poured, and after having weighed, boil them an hour and a quarter over a brisk fire, and stir them constantly; then to three pounds of fruit add one of sugar, beaten to powder; boil the preserve for another half hour, and press it into shallow pans or moulds.

Plums, 3 lbs.: 1-1/4 hour. Sugar, 1 lb.: 30 minutes.

APRICOT MARMALADE.

This may be made either by the receipt for greengage, or Mogul plum marmalade; or the fruit may first be boiled quite tender, then rubbed through a sieve, and mixed with three-quarters of a pound of sugar to the pound of apricots: from twenty to thirty minutes will boil it in this case. A richer preserve still is produced by taking off the skins, and dividing the plums in halves or quarters, and leaving them for some hours with their weight of fine sugar strewed over them before they are placed on the fire; they are then heated slowly and gently simmered for about half an hour.

TO DRY APRICOTS.

(_A quick and easy method._)

Wipe gently, split, and stone some fine apricots which are not over-ripe; weigh, and arrange them evenly in a deep dish or bowl, and strew in fourteen ounces of sugar in fine powder, to each pound of fruit; on the following day turn the whole carefully into a preserving-pan, let the apricots heat slowly, and simmer them very softly for six minutes, or for an instant longer, should they not in that time be quite tender. Let them remain in the syrup for a day or two, then drain and spread them singly on dishes to dry.

To each pound of apricots, 14 oz. of sugar; to stand 1 night, to be simmered from 6 to 8 minutes, and left in syrup 2 or 3 days.

DRIED APRICOTS.

(_French Receipt._)

Take apricots which have attained their full growth and colour, but before they begin to soften; weigh, and wipe them lightly; make a small incision across the top of each plum, pass the point of a knife through the stalk end, and gently push out the stones without breaking the fruit; next, put the apricots into a preserving-pan, with sufficient cold water to float them easily; place it over a moderate fire, and when it begins to boil, should the apricots be quite tender, lift them out and throw them into more cold water, but simmer them, otherwise, until they are so. Take the same weight of sugar that there was of the fruit before it was stoned, and boil it for ten minutes with a quart of water to the four pounds; skim the syrup carefully, throw in the apricots (which should previously be well drained on a soft cloth, or on a sieve), simmer them for one minute, and set them by in it until the following day, then drain it from them, boil it for ten minutes, and pour it on them the instant it is taken from the fire; in forty-eight hours repeat the process, and when the syrup has boiled ten minutes, put in the apricots, and simmer them from two to four minutes, or until they look quite clear. They may be stored in the syrup until wanted for drying, or drained from it, laid separately on slates or dishes, and dried very gradually: the blanched kernels may be put inside the fruit, or added to the syrup.

Apricots, 4 lbs., scalded until tender; sugar 4 lbs.; water, 1 quart: 10 minutes. Apricots, in syrup, 1 minute; left 24 hours. Syrup, boiled again, 10 minutes, and poured on fruit: stand 2 days. Syrup, boiled again, 10 minutes, and apricots 2 to 4 minutes, or until clear.

_Obs._—The syrup should be quite thick when the apricots are put in for the last time; but both fruit and sugar vary so much in quality and in the degree of boiling which they require, that no _invariable_ rule can be given for the latter. The apricot syrup strained very clear, and mixed with twice its measure of pale French brandy, makes an agreeable liqueur, which is much improved by infusing in it for a few days half an ounce of the fruit-kernels, blanched and bruised, to the quart of liquor.

We have found that cherries prepared by either of the receipts which we have given for preserving them with sugar, if thrown into the apricot syrup when partially dried, just scalded in it, and left for a fortnight, then drained and dried as usual, become a delicious sweetmeat. Mussel, imperatrice, or any other plums, when quite ripe, if simmered in it very gently until they are tender, and left for a few days to imbibe its flavour, then drained and finished as usual, are likewise excellent.

PEACH JAM, OR MARMALADE.

The fruit for this preserve, which is a very delicious one, should be finely flavoured, and quite ripe, though perfectly sound. Pare, stone, weigh, and boil it quickly for three-quarters of an hour, and do not fail to stir it often during the time; draw it from the fire, and mix with it ten ounces of well-refined sugar, rolled or beaten to powder, for each pound of the peaches; clear it carefully from scum, and boil it briskly for five minutes; throw in the strained juice of one or two _good_ lemons; continue the boiling for three minutes only, and pour out the marmalade. Two minutes after the sugar is stirred to the fruit, add the blanched kernels of part of the peaches.

Peaches, stoned and pared, 4 lbs.; 3/4 hour. Sugar, 2-1/2 lbs.: 2 minutes. Blanched peach-kernels: 3 minutes. Juice of 2 _small_ lemons: 3 minutes.

_Obs._—This jam, like most others, is improved by pressing the fruit through a sieve after it has been partially boiled. Nothing can be finer than its flavour, which would be injured by adding the sugar at first; and a larger proportion renders it cloyingly sweet. Nectarines and peaches mixed, make an admirable preserve.

TO PRESERVE, OR TO DRY PEACHES OR NECTARINES.

(_An easy and excellent Receipt._)

The fruit should be fine, freshly gathered, and _fully ripe_, but still in its perfection. Pare, halve, and weigh it after the stones are removed; lay it into a deep dish, and strew over it an equal weight of highly refined pounded sugar; let it remain until this is nearly dissolved, then lift the fruit gently into a preserving-pan, pour the juice and sugar to it, and heat the whole over a very slow fire; let it just simmer for ten minutes, then turn it softly into a bowl, and let it remain for two days; repeat the slow heating and simmering at intervals of two or three days, until the fruit is quite clear, when it may be potted in the syrup, or drained from it, and dried upon large clean slates or dishes, or upon wire-sieves. The flavour will be excellent. The strained juice of a lemon may be added to the syrup, with good effect, towards the end of the process, and an additional ounce or two of sugar allowed for it.

DAMSON JAM. (VERY GOOD.)

The fruit for this jam should be freshly gathered and quite ripe. Split, stone, weigh, and boil it quickly for forty minutes; then stir in half its weight of good sugar roughly powdered, and when it is dissolved, give the preserve fifteen minutes additional boiling, keeping it stirred, and thoroughly skimmed.

Damsons, stoned, 6 lbs.: 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 15 minutes.

_Obs._—A more refined preserve is made by pressing the fruit through a sieve after it is boiled tender; but the jam is excellent without.

DAMSON JELLY.

Bake separately in a very slow oven, or boil in a pan or copper of water as described at page 497, any number of fine ripe damsons, and one-third the quantity of bullaces, or of any other pale plums, as a portion of their juice will, to most tastes, improve, by softening the flavour of the preserve, and will render the colour brighter. Pour off the juice clear from the fruit, strain and weigh it; boil it quickly without sugar for twenty-five minutes, draw it from the fire, stir into it ten ounces of good sugar for each pound of juice, and boil it quickly from six to ten minutes longer, carefully clearing off all the scum. The jelly must be often stirred before the sugar is added, and constantly afterwards.

DAMSON, OR RED PLUM SOLID. (GOOD.)

Pour the juice from some damsons which have stood for a night in a very cool oven, or been stewed in a jar placed in a pan of water; weigh and put it into a preserving-pan with a pound and four ounces of pearmains (or of any other fine boiling apples), pared, cored, and quartered, to each pound of the juice; boil these together, keeping them well stirred, from twenty-five to thirty minutes, then add the sugar, and when it is nearly dissolved, continue the boiling for ten minutes. This, if done with exactness, will give a perfectly smooth and firm preserve, which may be moulded in small shapes, and turned out for table. The juice of any good red plum may be used for it instead of that of damsons.

To each pound clear damson-juice, 1-1/4 lb. pearmains (or other good apples), pared and cored: 25 to 30 minutes. Sugar, 14 oz.: 10 minutes.

EXCELLENT DAMSON CHEESE.

When the fruit has been baked or stewed tender, as directed above, drain off the juice, skin and stone the damsons, pour back to them from a third to half of their juice, weigh and then boil them over a clear brisk fire, until they form quite a dry paste; add six ounces of pounded sugar for each pound of the plums; stir them off the fire until this is dissolved, and boil the preserve again without quitting or ceasing to stir it, until it leaves the pan quite dry, and adheres in a mass to the spoon. If it should not stick to the fingers when lightly touched, it will be sufficiently done to keep very long; press it quickly into pans or moulds; lay on it a paper dipped in spirit when it is perfectly cold; tie another fold over it, and store it in a dry place.

Bullace cheese is made in the same manner, and almost any kind of plum will make an agreeable preserve of the sort.

To each pound of fruit, pared, stoned, and mixed with the juice and boiled quite dry, 6 oz. of pounded sugar, boiled again to a dry paste.

RED GRAPE JELLY.

Strip from their stalks some fine ripe black-cluster grapes, and stir them with a wooden spoon over a gentle fire until all have burst, and the juice flows freely from them; strain it off without pressure, and pass it through a jelly-bag, or through a twice-folded muslin; weigh and then boil it rapidly for twenty minutes; draw it from the fire, stir in it until dissolved, fourteen ounces of good sugar, roughly powdered, to each pound of juice, and boil the jelly quickly for fifteen minutes longer, keeping it constantly stirred, and perfectly well skimmed. It will be very clear, and of a beautiful pale rose-colour.

Juice of black-cluster grapes: 20 minutes. To each pound of juice, 14 oz. good sugar: 15 minutes.

_Obs._—We have proved this jelly only with the kind of grape which we have named, but there is little doubt that fine purple grapes of any sort would answer for it well.

ENGLISH GUAVA.

(_A firm, clear, bright Jelly._)

Strip the stalks from a gallon or two of the large kind of bullaces called the shepherd’s bullace; give part of them a cut, put them into stone jars, and throw into one of them a pound or two of imperatrice plums, if they can be obtained; put the jars into pans of water, and boil them as directed at page 497; then drain off the juice, pass it through a thick strainer or jelly-bag, and weigh it; boil it quickly from fifteen to twenty minutes; take it from the fire, and stir in it till dissolved three-quarters of a pound of sugar to the pound of juice; remove the scum with care, and boil the preserve again quickly from eight to twelve minutes, or longer should it not then jelly firmly on the skimmer. When the fruit is very acid, an equal weight of juice and sugar may be mixed together in the first instance, and boiled briskly for about twenty minutes. It is impossible to indicate the _precise_ time which the jelly will require, so much depends on the quality of the plums, and on the degree of boiling previously given to them in the water-bath. When properly made it is remarkably transparent and _very_ firm. It should be poured into shallow pans or small moulds, and turned from them before it is served. When the imperatrice plum cannot be procured, any other that will give a pale red colour to the juice will answer. The bullaces alone make an admirable preserve; and even the commoner kinds afford an excellent one.

Juice of the shepherd’s bullace and imperatrice, or other red plum, 4 lbs.: 15 to 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 8 to 12 minutes. Or juice of bullaces and sugar, equal weight: 20 minutes.

_Obs._—After the juice has been poured from the plums they may be stoned, pared, weighed, and boiled to a paste; then six ounces of sugar added to the pound, and the boiling continued until the preserve is again very dry; a small portion of the juice should be left with the fruit for this.

VERY FINE IMPERATRICE PLUM MARMALADE.

Weigh six pounds of the fruit when it is quite ripe, but before the frost has touched it; give each plum a cut as it is thrown into the preserving-pan, and when all are done boil them from thirty-five to forty minutes, taking out the stones as they rise to the surface, when they are quite detached from the flesh of the fruit. Draw back the pan from the fire, stir in two pounds of good sugar beaten to powder, and boil the preserve quickly for fifteen minutes. The imperatrice plum is of itself so sweet that this proportion of sugar makes with it a very rich preserve.

Imperatrice plums (without the stalks) 6 lbs.: boiled 35 to 40 minutes. Sugar 2 lbs. (added after the stones are out): 15 minutes.

_Obs._—Some slight trouble would be avoided by pressing the fruit through a sieve after the first boiling; but we do not think the marmalade would be improved by being freed from the skins of the plums.

TO DRY IMPERATRICE PLUMS.

(_An easy method._)

Put them into jars, or wide-necked bottles, with half a pound of good sugar, rolled or pounded, to twice the weight of fruit; set them into a very cool oven for four or five hours; or, if more convenient, place them, with a little hay between them, in a pan of cold water and boil them gently for rather more than three hours. Leave them in the syrup for a few days, and finish them as directed for the drying of other fruits. Tie a bladder over the necks of the jars or bottles before they are placed in the pan of water, and fasten two or three folds of paper over the former, or cork the bottles when the fruit is to be baked. The sugar should be put in after the fruit, without being shaken down; it will then dissolve gradually, and be absorbed by it equally.

To each pound of plums, 8 ounces pounded sugar: baked in cool oven 4 or 5 hours, or steamed 3 hours.

TO BOTTLE FRUIT FOR WINTER USE.

Gather the fruit in the middle of the day in very dry weather; strip off the stalks, and have in readiness some perfectly clean and dry wide-necked bottles; turn each of these the instant before it is filled, with the neck downwards, and hold in it two or three lighted matches: drop in the fruit before the vapour escapes, shake it gently down, press in some new corks, dip the necks of the bottles into melted resin, set them at night into an oven from which the bread has been drawn six or seven hours at least, and let them remain until the morning: if the heat be too great the bottles will burst. Currants, cherries, damsons, greengages, and various other kinds of plums will remain good for quite twelve months when bottled thus, if stored in a dry place.

To steam the fruit, put the bottles into a copper or other vessel up to their necks in cold water, with a little hay between and under them; light the fire, let the water heat slowly, and keep it at the point of gentle simmering until the fruit is sufficiently scalded. Some kinds will of course require a much longer time than others. From half to three quarters of an hour will be sufficient for gooseberries, currants, and raspberries; but the appearance of all will best denote their being done. When they have sunk almost half the depth of the bottles, and the skins are shrivelled, extinguish the fire, but leave them in the water until it is quite cold; then wipe and store the bottles in a dry place. A bit of moistened bladder tied over corks is better than the resin when the fruit is steamed.

APPLE JELLY.

Various kind of apples may be used successfully to make this jelly, but the nonsuch is by many persons preferred to all others for the purpose. The Ripstone pippin, however, may be used for it with very good effect, either solely, or with a mixture of pearmains. It is necessary only that the fruit should be finely flavoured, and that it should boil easily to a marmalade. Pare, core, quarter, and weigh it quickly that it may not lose its colour, and to each pound pour a pint of cold water and boil it until it is well broken, without being reduced to a quite thick pulp, as it would then be difficult to render the juice perfectly clear, which it ought to be. Drain this well from the apples, either through a fine sieve or a folded muslin strainer, pass it afterwards through a jelly-bag, or turn the fruit at once into the last of these, and pour the liquid through a second time if needful. When it appears quite transparent, weigh, and reduce it by quick boiling for twenty minutes; draw it from the fire, add two pounds of sugar broken very small, for three of the decoction; stir it till it is entirely dissolved, then place the preserving-pan again over a clear fire and boil the preserve quickly for ten minutes, or until it jellies firmly upon the skimmer when poured from it; throw in the strained juice of a small lemon for every two pounds of jelly, two minutes before it is taken from the fire.

Apples, 7 lbs.; water, 7 pints: 1/2 to full hour. Juice, 6 lbs.: 20 minutes _quick_ boiling. Sugar, 4 lbs.: 10 to 25 minutes. Juice three lemons.

EXCEEDINGLY FINE APPLE JELLY.

Pare quickly some highly flavoured juicy apples of any kind, or of various kinds together, for this is immaterial; slice, without dividing them; but first free them from the stalks and eyes; shake out some of the pips, and put the apples evenly into very clean large stone jars, just dipping an occasional layer into cold water as this is done, the better to preserve the colour of the whole. Set the jars into pans of water, and boil the fruit slowly until it is quite soft, then turn it into a jelly-bag or cloth and let the juice all drop from it. The quantity which it will have yielded will be small, but it will be clear and rich. Weigh, and boil it for ten minutes, then draw it from the fire, and stir into it, until it is entirely dissolved, twelve ounces of _good_ sugar to the pound and quarter (or pint) of juice. Place the preserve again over the fire and stir it without intermission, except to clear off the scum, until it has boiled from eight to ten minutes longer, for otherwise it will jelly on the surface with the scum upon it, which it will then be difficult to remove, as when touched it will break and fall into the preserve. The strained juice of one small fresh lemon to the pint of jelly should be thrown into it two or three minutes before it is poured out, and the rind of one or two cut very thin may be simmered in the juice before the sugar is added; but the pale, delicate colour of the jelly will be injured by too much of it, and many persons would altogether prefer the pure flavour of the fruit.

Juice of apples, 1 quart, or 2-1/2 lbs.: 10 minutes. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 8 to 10 minutes. Juice, 2 small lemons; rind of 1 or more at pleasure.

_Obs._—The quantity of apples required for it renders this a rather expensive preserve, where they are not abundant; but it is a remarkably fine jelly, and turns out from the moulds in perfect shape and _very_ firm.[168] It may be served in the second course, or for rice-crust. It is sometimes made without paring the apples, or dipping them into the water, and the colour is then a deep red: we have occasionally had a pint of water added to about a gallon and a half of apples, but the jelly was not then _quite_ so fine in flavour. The best time for making it is from the end of November to Christmas. Quince jelly would, without doubt, be very fine made by this receipt; but as the juice of that fruit is richer than that of the apple, a little water might be added. Alternate layers of apples and quinces would also answer well, we think.

Footnote 168:

It is, we should say, quite equal to _gelée de pommes_, for which
Rouen is somewhat celebrated.

QUINCE JELLY.

Pare, quarter, core, and weigh some ripe but quite sound quinces, as quickly as possible, and throw them as they are done into part of the water in which they are to be boiled, as directed at page 456; allow one pint of this to each pound of the fruit, and simmer it gently until it is a little broken, but not so long as to redden the juice, which ought to be very pale. Turn the whole into a jelly-bag, or strain the liquid through a fine cloth, and let it drain very closely from it but without the slightest pressure. Weigh the juice, put it into a delicately clean preserving-pan, and boil it quickly for twenty minutes; take it from the fire and stir in it, until it is entirely dissolved, twelve ounces of sugar for each pound of juice, or fourteen ounces if the fruit should be very acid, which it will be in the earlier part of the season; keep it constantly stirred and thoroughly cleared from scum, from ten to twenty minutes longer, or until it jellies strongly in falling from the skimmer; then pour it directly into glasses or moulds. If properly made, it will be sufficiently firm to turn out of the latter, and it will be beautifully transparent, and rich in flavour. It may be made with an equal weight of juice and sugar mixed together in the first instance, and boiled from twenty to thirty minutes. It is difficult to state the time precisely, because from different causes it will vary much. It should be reduced rapidly to the proper point, as long boiling injures the colour: this is always more perfectly preserved by boiling the juice without the sugar first.

To each pound pared and cored quinces, 1 pint water: 3/4 to 1-1/2 hour. Juice, boiled 20 minutes. To each pound, 12 oz. sugar: 10 to 20 minutes. Or, juice and sugar equal weight: 20 to 30 minutes.

QUINCE MARMALADE.

When to economise the fruit is not an object, pare, core, and quarter some of the inferior quinces, and boil them in as much water as will nearly cover them, until they begin to break; strain the juice from them, and for the marmalade put half a pint of it to each pound of fresh quinces: in preparing these, be careful to cut out the hard stony parts round the cores. Simmer them gently until they are perfectly tender, then press them, with the juice, through a coarse sieve; put them into a perfectly clean pan, and boil them until they form almost a dry paste; add for each round of quinces and the half pint of juice, three-quarters of a pound of sugar in fine powder, and boil the marmalade for half an hour, stirring it gently without ceasing: it will be very firm and bright in colour. If made shortly after the fruit is gathered, a little additional sugar will be required; and when a richer and less dry marmalade is better liked, it must be boiled for a shorter time, and an equal weight of fruit and sugar may be used.

Quinces, pared and cored, 4 lbs.; prepared juice, 1 quart: 2 to 3 hours. Boiled fast to dry, 20 to 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 30 minutes.

Richer marmalade: quinces, 4 lbs.; juice, 1 quart; sugar, 4 lbs.

QUINCE AND APPLE MARMALADE.

Boil together, from three-quarters of an hour to an hour, two pounds of pearmains, or of any other well-flavoured apples, in an equal weight of prepared quince-juice (see page 456), then take them from the fire, and mix with them a pound and a half of sugar, in fine powder; when this is a little dissolved, set the pan again over a brisk fire, and boil the preserve for twenty minutes longer, keeping it stirred all the time.

Prepared quince-juice, 2 lbs.; apples, 2 lbs.: 3/4 to 1 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes.

QUINCE PASTE.

If the full flavour of the quinces be desired, stew them sufficiently tender to press through a sieve, in the prepared juice of page 456, otherwise, in just water enough to about three parts cover them; when they are soft quite through lift them out, let them cool, and then pass them through a sieve; reduce them to a dry paste over a very clear fire, and stir them constantly; then weigh the fruit, and mix it with an equal proportion of pounded sugar, or sugar boiled to candy height (we find the effect nearly the same, whichever method be pursued), and stir the paste without intermission until it is again so dry as to quit the pan and adhere to the spoon in one large ball; press it into shallow pans or dishes; cut it, as soon as cold, into small squares, and should they seem to require it, dry them with a very gentle degree of heat, and when they are again cold store them in tin cases with well-dried foolscap paper between them: the paste may be moulded, when more convenient, and kept until it is wanted for table, in a very dry place. In France, where the fruit is admirably confected, the _pâte de coigns_, or quince paste, is somewhat less boiled than we have directed, and dried afterwards in the sun, or in an extremely gentle oven, in square tin frames, about an inch and a half deep, placed upon clean slates.

JELLY OF SIBERIAN CRABS.

This fruit makes a jelly of beautiful colour, and of pleasant flavour also: it may be stored in small moulds of ornamental shape, and turned out for rice-crust. Take off the stalks, weigh, and wash the crabs; then, to each pound and a half, add a pint of water and boil them gently until they are broken, but do not allow them to fall to a pulp. Pour the whole into a jelly-bag, and when the juice is quite transparent, weigh it, put it into a clean preserving-pan, boil it quickly for fifteen minutes, take it from the fire, and stir in it until dissolved three-quarters of a pound of fine sugar roughly powdered to each pound of the juice; boil the jelly from fifteen to twenty minutes, skim it very clean, and pour it into the moulds. Should the quantity be large, a few additional minutes’ boiling must be given to the juice before the sugar is added.

To each 1-1/2 lb. of crabs; water, 1 pint: 12 to 18 minutes. Juice to be fast boiled, 15 minutes; sugar, to each pound, 3/4 lb.; 15 to 20 minutes.

TO PRESERVE BARBERRIES IN BUNCHES.

Take the finest barberries without stones that can be procured, tie them together in bunches of four or five sprigs, and for each half pound of the fruit (which is extremely light), boil one pound of very good sugar in a pint of water for twenty minutes, and clear it well from scum; throw in the fruit, let it heat gently, and then boil from five to seven minutes, when it will be perfectly transparent. So long as any snapping noise is heard the fruit is not all done; it should be pressed equally down into the syrup until the whole of the berries have burst; and should then be turned into jars, which must be covered with skin or two or three folds of thick paper, as soon as the preserve is perfectly cold. The barberries thus prepared make a beautiful garnish for sweet dishes, or for puddings.

Barberries, tied in bunches, 1-1/2 lb.; sugar 3 lbs.; water 1-1/2 pint: 20 minutes. Barberries boiled in syrup: 5 to 7 minutes.

BARBERRY JAM.

(_First and best Receipt._)

The barberries for this preserve should be quite ripe, though they should not be allowed to hang until they begin to decay. Strip them from the stalks, throw aside such as are spotted, and for each pound of the fruit allow eighteen ounces of well-refined sugar; boil this, with one pint of water to every four pounds, until it becomes white, and falls in thick masses from the spoon; then throw in the fruit, and keep it stirred over a brisk fire for six minutes only; take off the scum, and pour it into jars or glasses.

Sugar, 4-1/4 lbs.; water, 1-1/4 pint: boiled to candy height. Barberries, 4 lbs.: 6 minutes.

_Barberry Jam. Second Receipt._—The preceding is an excellent receipt, but the preserve will be _very_ good if eighteen ounces of pounded sugar be mixed and boiled with the fruit for ten minutes and this is done at a small expense of time and trouble.

Sugar pounded, 2-1/4 lbs.; fruit, 2 lbs.: boiled 10 minutes.

SUPERIOR BARBERRY JELLY, AND MARMALADE.

Strip the fruit from the stems, wash it in spring-water, drain, bruise it slightly, and put it into a clean stone jar, with no more liquid than the drops which hang about it. Place the jar in a pan of water, and steam the fruit until it is quite tender: this will be in from thirty minutes to an hour. Pour off the clear juice, strain, weigh, and boil it quickly from five to seven minutes, with eighteen ounces of sugar to every pound. For the marmalade, rub the barberries through a sieve with a wooden spoon, and boil them quickly for the same time, and with the same proportion of sugar as the jelly.

Barberries boiled in water-bath until tender; to each pound of juice, 1 lb. 2 oz. sugar: 5 minutes. Pulp of fruit to each pound, 18 oz. sugar: 5 minutes.

_Obs._—We have always had these preserves made with very ripe fruit, and have found them extremely good; but more sugar may be needed to sweeten them sufficiently when the barberries have hung less time upon the trees.

ORANGE MARMALADE.

(_A Portuguese Receipt._)

Rasp very slightly on a fine and delicately clean grater the rinds of some sound Seville oranges; cut them into quarters, and separate the flesh from the rinds; then with the small end of a tea, or egg-spoon, clear it entirely from the pips, and from the loose inner skin and film. Put the rinds into a large quantity of cold water, and change it when they have boiled about twenty minutes. As soon as they are perfectly tender lift them out, and drain them on a sieve; slice them thin, and add eight ounces of them to each pound of the pulp and juice, with a pound and a half of highly-refined sugar in fine powder; boil the marmalade quickly for half an hour, skim it well, and turn it into the jars. The preserve thus made will not have a very powerful flavour of the orange rind. When more of this is liked, either leave a portion of the fruit unrasped, or mix with the preserve some of the zest which has been grated off, allowing for it its weight of sugar. Or proceed thus: allow to a dozen Seville oranges two fine juicy lemons, and the weight of the whole in sifted sugar, of excellent quality. With a sharp knife cut through the rinds just deep enough to allow them to be stripped off in quarters with the end of a spoon, and throw them for a night into plenty of cold spring-water; on the following morning boil them sufficiently tender to allow the head of a pin to pierce them easily; then drain them well, let them cool, and scrape out the white part of the rind, and cut the remainder into thin chips. In the mean time have the pulp of the fruit quite cleared from the pips and film; put it with the chips into a preserving-pan, heat them slowly, boil them for ten minutes, draw the pan from the fire, and stir gradually in, and dissolve the remainder of the sugar, and boil the preserve more quickly for twenty minutes, or until it thickens and appears ready to jelly. This mode, though it gives a little additional trouble, will prevent the orange-chips from becoming hard, which they will sometimes be if much sugar be added to them at first. The sugar first broken into large lumps, is sometimes made into a very thick syrup, with so much water only as will just dissolve it; the pulp and juice are in that case boiled in it quickly for ten minutes before the chips are added; and a part of these are pounded and stirred into the preserve with the others. March is the proper month for making this preserve, the Seville oranges being then in perfection. For lemon marmalade proceed exactly in the same manner as for this.

Rinds of Seville oranges, lightly rasped and boiled tender, 2 lbs.; pulp and juice, 4 lbs.; sugar, 6 lbs.: 1/2 hour. Or, weight of oranges, first taken in sugar, and added, with all the rinds, to the pulp after the whole has been properly prepared.

GENUINE SCOTCH MARMALADE.

“Take some bitter oranges, and double their weight of sugar; cut the rind of the fruit into quarters and peel it off, and if the marmalade be not wanted very thick, take off some of the spongy white skin inside the rind. Cut the chips as thin as possible, and about half an inch long, and divide the pulp into small bits, removing carefully the seeds, which may be steeped in part of the water that is to make the marmalade, and which must be in the proportion of a quart to a pound of fruit. Put the chips and pulp into a deep earthen dish, and pour the water boiling over them; let them remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and then turn the whole into the preserving-pan, and boil it until the chips are perfectly tender. When they are so, add by degrees the sugar (which should be previously pounded), and boil it until it jellies. The water in which the seeds have been steeped, and which must be taken from the quantity apportioned to the whole of the preserve, should be poured into a hair-sieve, and the seeds well worked in it with the back of a spoon; a strong clear jelly will be obtained by this means, which must be washed off them by pouring their own liquor through the sieve in small portions over them. This must be added to the fruit when it is first set on the fire.”

Oranges, 3 lbs.; water, 3 quarts; sugar, 6 lbs.

_Obs._—This receipt, which we have not tried ourselves, is guaranteed as an excellent one by the Scottish lady from whom it was procured.

CLEAR ORANGE MARMALADE.

(_Author’s Receipt._)

This, especially for persons in delicate health, is far more wholesome than the marmalade which contains chips of the orange-rinds. The fruit must be prepared in the same manner, and the pulp very carefully cleared from the pips and skin. The rinds taken off in quarters (after having been washed and wiped quite clean from the black soil which is sometimes found on them), must be boiled extremely tender in a large quantity of water, into which they may be thrown when it boils. They should be well drained upon a large hair sieve reversed, so soon as the head of a pin will pierce them easily; and the white skin and fibres should be scraped entirely from them while they are still warm. They should then be pounded to a paste, and well blended with the pulp and juice, these being added to them by degrees, that they may not remain in lumps. A quarter of a pint of water, in which the seeds have been immersed for an hour or two, well worked up with them, and then passed through a net strainer[169] or coarse sieve, will soften the flavour of the marmalade, and assist its jellying at the same time. Boil it rather quickly without sugar for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, then finish it by the directions for “Orange Marmalade, Portuguese Receipt,” of the preceding page, but regulate the proportion of sugar and the time of boiling as follows:—

Footnote 169:

Strainers of coarse bobbin-net, which is very cheap, are preferable to
muslin for preparations which are jellied, as the water becomes thick
when the orange-seeds are steeped in it.

Pulp and juice of Seville oranges, 1-1/2 lb.; water strained from pips, 1/2 pint; pounded orange-rinds 3/4 lb.: 15 to 20 minutes. Sugar, 2-3/4 lb. (3 lb. if the fruit should be very acid), half added first, 10 to 15 minutes; with remaining half, 15 to 20 minutes, or until the marmalade becomes quite thick and clear.

_Obs._—We have occasionally had more water than the proportion given above used in making this preserve, which is very nice in flavour, but which may be made to suit various tastes by adding a larger or smaller quantity of the rinds; and a larger weight of sugar when it is liked very sweet. When the bitterness of the fruit is objected to, the rinds may be steeped for a night in a plentiful quantity of spring water.

FINE JELLY OF SEVILLE ORANGES.

(_Author’s Original Receipt._)

Although we have appropriated this receipt to another work, we cannot refrain from inserting it here as well, so delicious to our taste is the jelly which we have had made by it. For eighteen full-sized oranges allow a pint and a half of water. Take off the rinds in quarters from ten of them, and then free them entirely from their tough white skin, and with a sharp knife cut them into rather thick slices, and put them with all the pips into the water. Halve the remainder of the fruit without paring it, and squeeze the juice and pips, but _not the pulp_, to the sliced oranges; and place them by the fire in an enamelled stewpan which they will not more than two-thirds fill. Heat and boil them gently between twenty and thirty minutes, then strain the juice closely from them without pressure, through a large square of muslin folded in four, or, if more convenient, pass it first through a very thin and delicately clean cloth, and afterwards through the folded muslin. Weigh and boil it quickly for five minutes; then for each pound stir gradually to it fourteen ounces of highly refined sugar, broken small or roughly powdered; and when it is quite dissolved, continue the boiling for a few minutes longer, when the preserve will jelly easily and firmly, and be pale and beautifully transparent, and most agreeable in flavour.

Seville oranges, 18; of which 10 pared and sliced. Water, 1-1/2 pint, and juice of 8 oranges: gently heated and boiled 20 to 30 minutes. Juice boiled quickly 5 minutes. To each lb. 14 oz. sugar: 5 to 8 minutes.

_Obs._—On our second trial we had the _very thin_ rind of three of the oranges stewed with the fruit, which we thought an improvement. The jelly in both instances was made, we believe, in April, when the fruit was fully ripe: earlier in the season it would probably require longer boiling. On one occasion it became quite firm _very quickly_ after the sugar was added to the juice; that is to say, in three or four minutes.

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