The "Queen" cookery books: Pickles and Preserves

Crab Apple Jelly.— This can he made exactly like apple jelly, only reducing the water considerably, say a gill to the pound of fruit, and using one and a quarter to one and a-half pounds of loaf sugar to the pint of juice. Or else : well wash the little apples (choosing the brightest coloured), but neither peel nor core them. Halve or quarter them and lay them in the pan with just enough water to cover them, and cook them to a pulp, when you turn them into the jelly bag and let them drain off all the night. In the morning weigh the juice, and to every pint of juice, allow one pound of sugar, and boil till perfectly clear and of a bright rosy red ; try it by dropping a little on a plate and if it stiffens it is ready and must be at once lifted off, and poured into moulds or pots. A little lemon juice or a few drops of essence of lemon may be added just at the last. (This is an American recipe, and is also often used for ordinary apple jelly, but only the brightest, redskinned ones must be chosen). Hips and Haws Jelly. — This can be made by exactly the same recipe as the rowan jelly. Grape Jelly. — This can be made precisely like every other jelly, i.e., the juice extracted, strained, weighed, and cooked with an equal weight of sugar, a particularly fine jelly being made with either ripe purple or green Muscat grapes, these last being perfectly ripe. The unripe grapes obtained when the vines are thinned are also capable of producing jelly in the same way, with the addition of just not enough water to cover them, when first put into the preserving pan. Finish as for rowan jelly. But the best way of using these unripe grapes is as a marmalade. For this, put six pounds of the thinned out grapes into a saucepanful of boiling water, and as soon as they begin to swell, lift them off, add a little lemon juice and let them stand by the fire till quite green. Now turn them into an earthenware basin, and leave them till cool. When nearly cold rub them through a sieve and dry this puree over the fire. Then stir to it five pounds of cane sugar boiled to the crack, return it all to the fire, and cook till it will set nicely, when it is potted and covered down. Barberries, green apricots, and unripe windfalls can all be preserved in this way. A rougher and readier plan is to well wash the thinned grapes, then rinse them in fresh cold water, drain them lightly but do not dry them, and lay them in the preserving pan with an equal weight of sugar, and cook in the usual way, being very particular in the skimming, to remove all the seeds sent to the surface by the boiling. Windfall Jelly. — Wipe and stalk any small apples, windfalls, &c., but do not peel or core them, and cut out all bruised or decayed parts. Three parts fill a pot with them, with enough cold water to well cover them, and cook them to a pulp. Drain off as in preceding recipes till all the juice is extracted. Weigh this, and to each quart add lib. sugar, six or seven cloves, a saltspoonful of grated nutmeg, a little stick cinnamon (tied up in muslin), and the thinly-pared rind and juice of half a lemon. Boil till thick, then remove the spice, and pot it. When cold it should be solid. (A most excellent and economic recipe.)