If jellies be over-boiled, much of the sugar will become candied, and leave the jelly thin.
Every thing used for the purpose of preserving should be clean and very dry, particularly bottles for bottled fruit.
Fruit should boil rapidly _before_ the sugar is added, and quietly afterwards--when preserves seem likely to become mouldy, it is generally a sign they have not been sufficiently boiled, and it will be requisite to boil them up again--fruit for bottling should not be too ripe, and should be perfectly fresh; there are various methods adopted by different cooks: the fruit may be placed in the bottles, and set in a moderate oven until considerably shrunken, when the bottles should be removed and closely corked; or the bottles may be set in a pan with cold water up to the necks, placed over the fire; when the fruit begins to sink remove them, and when cold fill up each bottle with cold spring water, cork the bottles, and lay them on their sides in a dry place.
To bottle red currants--pick them carefully from the stalk, and add, as the currants are put in, sifted white sugar; let the bottles be well filled and rosin the corks, and keep them with their necks downwards.
BRANDIED CHERRIES.
Put into a large wide mouthed bottle very ripe black cherries, add to them two pounds of loaf sugar, a quart of brandy, and a few cloves, then bruise a few more cherries, and simmer with sugar, strain and add the juice to the cherries in the bottle, cork closely, and keep in a warm dry place.
QUINCE MARMALADE.
Peel, cut into quarters, and core two pounds of sharp apples, and the same quant.i.ty of quinces; put them into a jar, with one pound of white sugar powdered and sprinkled over them; cover them with half a pint of water, and put in also a little bruised cochineal tied in a muslin.
Set them in a slack oven till tender, take out the cochineal, and pulp the fruit to a marmalade.
Some cooks prefer boiling the sugar and water first and scalding the fruit till tender, and then adding them to the syrup.
DAMSON MARMALADE.
Is made in the same manner as quince, as also apricot marmalade, which is very fine; the fruit must be stoned, and some of the kernels put in with the fruit, which are peeled, and apricots are cut in pieces; they should be carefully pulped through a clean sieve.
PRESERVED APRICOTS.
Halve and pare ripe apricots, or if not quite ripe, boil them till the skin can easily be removed. Lay them in a dish hollow downwards, sift over them their own weight of white sugar, let them lay for some hours, then put the fruit, with the sugar and juice into a preserving pan, and simmer till the fruit is clear, take it out, put it carefully into pots, and pour over the syrup.
This receipt will serve as a guide for preserved nectarines, peaches, plums, gages, &c. A few of the kernels should always be put in with the fruit, as they improve the flavor of the preserve.
STRAWBERRIES PRESERVED WHOLE.
Weigh an equal quant.i.ty of fruit and white sugar powdered, sift all the sugar over the fruit, so that half of it shall equally be covered, let it lay till the next day, when boil the remainder with red currant juice, in which simmer the strawberries until the jelly hangs about them. Put the strawberries into pots, taking care not to break them, and pour over the syrup.
This receipt will serve for raspberries and cherries, which make a fine preserve.
STRAWBERRY JAM.
Bruise gently, with the back of a wooden spoon, six pounds of fine fresh fruit, and boil them with very little water for twenty minutes, stirring until the fruit and juice are well mixed; then put in powdered loaf sugar of equal weight to the fruit, and simmer half an hour longer. If the preserve is not required to be very rich, half the weight of sugar in proportion to the quant.i.ty of fruit may be used; but more boiling will be requisite. By this recipe also are made raspberry, currant, gooseberry, apricot, and other jams.
RED CURRANT JELLY.
Strip carefully from the stems some quite ripe currants, put them into a preserving pan, stir them gently over a clear fire until the juice flows freely from them, then squeeze the currants and strain the juice through a folded muslin or jelly bag; pour it into a preserving pan, adding, as it boils, white sugar, in the proportion of one pound of sugar to one pint of juice.
If made with less sugar, more boiling will be required, by which much juice and flavour are lost. A little dissolved isingla.s.s is used by confectioners, but it is much better without. Jams and jellies should be poured into pots when in a boiling state.
Jellies should be continually skimmed till the sc.u.m ceases to rise, so that they may be clear and fine. White currant jelly and black are made in the same manner as red. By this receipt can be made raspberry jelly, strawberry jelly, and all other kinds.
APPLE JELLY.
Pare, core, and cut small any kind of fine baking apples--say six pounds in weight; put them in a preserving pan with one quart of water; boil gently till the apples are very soft and broken, then pa.s.s the juice through a jelly bag; when, to each pint, add half a pound of loaf sugar, set it on the fire to boil twenty minutes, skimming it as the sc.u.m rises; it must not be over boiled, or the colour will be too dark.
PEAR-SYRUP OR JELLY.
This preparation, although little known in England, forms an important article of economy in many parts of the Continent. The pears are first heated in a saucepan over the fire until the pulp, skins, &c., have separated from the juice, which is then strained, and boiled with coa.r.s.e brown sugar to the thickness of treacle; but it has a far more agreeable flavour. It is cheaper than b.u.t.ter or treacle, and is excellent spread upon bread for children.
PLUM JAM.
This is a useful and cheap preserve. Choose the large long black plum; to each gallon of which add three pounds of good moist sugar; bake them till they begin to crack, when, put them in pots, of a size for once using, as the air is apt to spoil the jam.
CHAPTER IX.
Pickling.
The best vinegar should always be used for pickling; in all cases it should be boiled and strained.
The articles to be pickled should first be parboiled or soaked in brine, which should have about six ounces of salt to one quart of water.
The spices used for pickling are whole pepper, long peppers, allspice, mace, mustard-seed, and ginger, the last being first bruised.
The following is a good proportion of spice: to one quart of vinegar put half an ounce of ginger, the same quant.i.ty of whole-pepper and allspice, and one ounce of mustard-seed; four shalots, and one clove of garlic.
Pickles should be kept secure from the air, or they soon become soft; the least quant.i.ty of water, or a wet spoon, put into a jar of pickles, will spoil the contents.