Wash, wipe and remove the blossom ends of one-half peck of perfect red Siberian crab-apples. Pour one tablespoon of water in bottom of one gallon stone jar, then place in alternate layers of apples and sugar, using four pounds altogether (with sugar on top). Cover with two thicknesses of Manila paper, tied down securely or with close fitting plate. Bake in a very slow oven (that would only turn the paper a light brown), two or three hours; let stand to cool, keep in cool, dry place.
BAKED SICKEL PEARS
May be prepared the same way. Flavor, if desired, with ginger or lemon juice.
BAKED QUINCES
Quinces may be wiped, cored, and quartered; sugar filled in the cavities, and baked same as crab-apples, in a very slow oven three or more hours until clear and gla.s.sy.
CANNING FRUIT IN A WATER BATH
Canned fruits may be cooked over the fire, but they are, on the whole, very much better if cooked in a water bath. Prepare fruit and syrup as for cooking in a preserving kettle and cook the syrup ten minutes.
Sterilize the jars and utensils; fill the jars with fruit; then pour in enough syrup to fill the jars completely. Run the blade of a silver-plated knife around the inside of the jar and put the covers on loosely.
Have a wooden rack, slats, or straw in the bottom of a wash boiler; put in enough warm water to come to about four inches above the rack; place the filled jars in the boiler, being careful not to let them touch. Pack clean white rags or cotton rope between and around the jars to prevent their striking one another when the water begins to boil. Cover the boiler and let the fruit cook as directed, counting from the time the surrounding water begins to boil. (This cooking is called sterilizing.)
Draw the boiler aside and remove the cover. When the steam pa.s.ses off, lift out one jar at a time and place it in a pan of boiling water beside the boiler; fill to overflowing with boiling syrup; wipe the rim of the jar with a cloth wrung from boiling water; put on rubbers and cover quickly; stand the jar upside down and protected from drafts, until cool; then tighten the covers if screw covers are used, and wipe off the jars with a wet cloth. Paste on labels and put the jars on shelves in a cool, dark closet.
The time given for sterilizing is for quart jars; pint jars require three minutes less.
BLUEBERRIES
To twelve quarts of berries take one quart of sugar and one pint of water. Put water, berries, and sugar in preserving kettle; heat slowly.
Boil sixteen minutes, counting from the time the contents of the kettle begins to bubble.
CANNED RASPBERRIES
To six quarts of berries take one quart of sugar. Put one quart of the fruit in the preserving kettle; heat slowly, crushing with a wooden potato masher; strain and press through a fine sieve. Return the juice and pulp to the kettle; add the sugar; stir until dissolved; then add the remaining quarts of berries. Boil sixteen minutes, counting from the time they begin to boil. Skim well while boiling, and put into jars as directed.
BLACKBERRIES
The same as for raspberries.
CURRANTS
To twelve quarts of currants take four quarts of sugar. Treat the same as raspberries.
RASPBERRIES AND CURRANTS
To ten quarts of raspberries and three quarts of currants take two and one-half quarts of sugar. Heat, crush and press the juice from the currants and proceed as directed for raspberries.
CANNED GOOSEBERRIES
To six quarts of berries take three pints of sugar and one pint of water.
Dissolve the sugar in the water, using three pints of sugar if the gooseberries are green and only half the quant.i.ty if they are ripe. Add the fruit and cook fifteen minutes.
Green gooseberries may also be canned like rhubarb without sugar and sweetened when used.
CANNED STRAWBERRIES
After washing and hulling berries, proceed as with raspberries.
CANNED PEACHES
Wash peaches, put them in a square of cheese-cloth or wire basket. Dip for two minutes in kettle of boiling water. Plunge immediately into cold water. Skin the peaches; leave whole or cut as preferred. Pack peaches in hot jars. Fill hot jars with hot syrup or boiling water. Put tops in position. Tighten tops but not airtight. Place jars on false bottom in wash-boiler. Let the water boil sixteen minutes. Seal as directed. To eight quarts of peaches take three quarts of sugar, two quarts of water.
Apricots, plums and ripe pears may be treated exactly as peaches.
QUINCES
To four quarts of pared, cored and quartered quinces take one and one-half quarts of sugar and two quarts of water.
Rub the fruit hard with a coa.r.s.e, crash towel, blanch for six minutes.
Pare, quarter, and core; drop the pieces into cold water. Put the fruit in the preserving kettle with cold water to cover it generously. Heat slowly and simmer gently until tender. The pieces will not all require the same time to cook. Take each piece up as soon as it is so tender that a silver fork will pierce it readily. Drain on a platter. Strain the water in which the fruit was cooked through cheese-cloth. Put two quarts of the strained liquid and the sugar into the preserving kettle; stir over the fire until the sugar is dissolved. When it boils skim well and put in the cooked fruit. Boil gently for about forty minutes.
PEARS
If the fruit is ripe it may be treated exactly the same as peaches. If, on the other hand, it is rather hard it must be cooked until so tender that a silver fork will pierce it readily.
CHERRIES
Prepare in the same manner as you would for preserving, allowing half a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. After putting the cherries into the syrup do not let them boil more than five minutes; then fill your cans to overflowing, seal immediately and then screw tighter as they grow cold. Remove the little bag of stones which you have boiled with the syrup. The object in boiling the stones with the syrup is to impart the fine flavor to the fruit which cherries are robbed of in pitting.
CHERRIES FOR PIES
Stem the cherries--do not pit them,--pack tight in gla.s.s fruit jars, cover with syrup, made of two tablespoons of sugar to a quart of fruit, allowing one-half cup of water to each quart of cherries. Let them boil fifteen minutes from the time they begin to boil.
PINEAPPLE
Take off rind and trim. Cut into slices and divide into thirds. Fill into gla.s.s jars and dissolve sugar in water enough to cover the jars to overflowing, allowing half a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit, and pour this sweetened water over the pineapples; proceed as in "Canning Fruit in a Water Bath" and let them boil steadily for at least twenty minutes. Draw the boiler aside or lift it off the coal range and allow the cans to cool in the water in which they were boiled even if it takes until the following day. Then remove each can carefully, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g each can as tightly as possible. Wipe dry and put away in a cool place. All canned fruits should be examined carefully in one or two weeks" time after being put up. If any show signs of fermenting, just set them in a boiler of cold water and let them come to a boil slowly. Boil about ten minutes, remove boiler from the fire and allow the cans to cool in the boiler. When cold screw tight and put away.