The "Queen" cookery books: Pickles and Preserves

Toffee (Russian). — Make the toffee in the usual way, only using lib. of sugar, about 14oz. of cream, and a teaspoonful of essence of vanilla. Some people stir blanched and shred pistachios into this, and cut it into bars. Toffee is like nougat in its variations. For instance, scrape down |oz. of best vanilla chocolate and mix it very smooth with a little single cream or new milk, gradually adding more milk, till you have used a gill altogether ; then add to this 6oz. of fresh butter, 12oz. brown sugar, and a tablespoonful of treacle; boil this altogether for twenty minutes, stirring it all the time, for it is very apt to catch, add a little essence of vanilla, then turn it out to cool on a buttered tin. This should never be crisp, but of the consistency of chocolate. It is a very favourite bonbon in India. Or, add an ounce of ground ginger to every |lb. of brown sugar used in toffee making, and this will make a very nice ginger toffee. O o Popcorn. — This is not at all difficult to prepare. Any cornchandler will supply the necessary Indian corn. Take a “popper” (this is a kind of fryingpan with holes in it, but a fine meshed frying basket answers capitally), cover the bottom of this not too thickly with the corn, and sprinkle this lightly with caster sugar. Now shake it over a very slow fire or a gas ring (mind the gas is turned down low) till the corn is all “ popped.” If you use coloured sugar you can vary this to any extent. Almonds (Devilled). — Blanch the almonds, and cook them in hot oil or butter till a delicate golden brown (this will take eight or nine minutes), then drain for a minute or two in front of the fire, on kitchen paper, after which you roll them in cayenne and a little salt, tossing them in this till well coated, then set them in the oven for about five minutes to dry and crisp. Salted. — Proceed exactly in the same way, but use roughly crushed salt, or, better still, a little freezing salt, as this looks like little crystals. You can vary these flavourings to taste. All sorts of nuts can be done thus ; hazel nuts and walnuts, blanched and halved, are particularly good, if tossed either in celery salt, or in Searcy salt. Fruit Paste. — A very nice dessert sweet can be made with the fruit pulp left over after jelly making, if it is all rubbed through a sieve and boiled sharply to a dry paste ; then, to each pound (weighed before sieving) stir in 6oz. or 7oz. of caster sugar, and boil it all together for about twenty- five minutes more, taking care it does not burn. Of course, this paste is nicer if all the juice has not been extracted from the fruit. Fruit Drops. — Stir together over the fire, almost to boiling point, any good thick fruit juice, with sugar in the proportion of -|lb. of sugar to each half gill of fruit syrup. When it is sufficiently cooked, drop it in round drops on an oiled slab, and leave it till set. Cuerries, to Dry. — Choose very ripe fruit, and stalk and stone them ; arrange them on dishes or old trays, and leave them in the sun till dry and shrivelled. If the weather will not admit of this, put the trays N