The art of cookery

the cans. When the cans are completely filled with the syrup, screw on the caps, which should be first heated, cover with a towel, and place where they will cool gradually. When perfectly cold tighten the caps, wrap the cans in paper to exclude the light, store in a cool, dry place, and turn upside down once a week for six or eight weeks. To Preserve Strawberries No. 2. — Prepare and cook the syrup as directed for preserving strawberries in formula No. i, adding cut-loaf sugar in place of rock candy. Spread the large berries, after they have been washed, drained, and dried, on deep platters that have been first heated, dip or pour the boiling syrup over them, set in the sunshine, and cover with fine wire netting or screens. Press the berries gently under the syrup, or pour the syrup over them, two or three times a day, until jelly begins to form, which will be after an exposure of the mixture to a hot sun for about three days, put into small cans or tumblers, filling them quite full, expose to a bright sunshine until the surface is slightly dried over and a skin formed, then cover closely, wrap in paper, and keep in a cool, dry closet. To Preserve Strawberries No. 3. — To two pounds of granulated or cut-loaf sugar add one pint of water and simmer in a sauce-pan five minutes. Have two pounds of large, firm strawberries prepared for cooking. Put enough of them into the syrup to cover the surface, simmer very gently, shaking the sauce-pan occasionally to keep the berries submerged in the syrup, until they look cooked and transparent, then skim them from the syrup and put into glasses. Cook and dispose of all the ber- 172 The Art of Cookery. ries in a similar manner, filling each of the glasses three fourths full of the cooked fruit, then simmer the syrup until about the consistency of ordinary syrup, fill the glasses containing the berries quite full with it, cover closely, wrap in paper, and store in a cool, dry place. To Preserve Raspberries. — Large red raspberries can be preserved according to either of the formulas given for preserving strawberries ; but, whichever formula is followed, the juice of a lemon should be added to increase the acidity of the syrup. Raspberry Jam. — From two quarts of red raspberries pick out one third of the smallest berries. Crush, press out the juice, and strain it. Crush the remainder of the berries, put them, with the strained juice, into a porcelain-lined kettle, and, after they begin to boil, simmer gently for twenty minutes, stirring frequently, then add a pound and a half of granulated sugar, simmer five minutes more, remove the scum that rises, take the kettle from the fire, put the jam in glasses, cover closely, wrap in paper, and set in a cool, dry closet. Strawberry Jam. — From two quarts of strawberries pick out one third of the smaller ones. Crush, press out the juice, and strain it from the crushed fruit. Crush the remainder of the two quarts of berries, put them, with the juice and one pound of granulated sugar, into a preserving kettle, simmer twenty minutes, add another pound of sugar, and as soon as the sugar is dissolved and the fruit begins to boil, remove the kettle from the fire, put the jam into glasses, cover closely, wrap in paper, and put in a cool, dry place. Canning, Preserving, and Pickling. 173