Hilda's diary of a Cape housekeeper

Rub a very clean copper or enamelled preserving-pot slightly with sweet (Lucca) oil, put the water-melon rind squares, with their weight in sugar, in it and add a few cups of water. (If you have 4 lbs. peel, 4 lbs. sugar, add 4 cups of water.) Let it come to the boil, and then set it on a cooler part of the range and let it simmer for 3 or 4 hours with the lid closed. If not convenient to boil in one day, it may be set aside and boiled again next day till done. A good test of when it is sufficiently done, is to put a little of the syrup in a flat plate ; if the syrup is oily and thick enough, little ripples come on the top as it cools. It ought not to granulate, which it will do if boiled too quickly. Bottle it boiling hot, first warming the bottles to prevent cracking, and cork quickly. This makes a nice dessert dish. Water-melon Preserve with, dry Sugar. — Prick and lay in lime for a night like the peel for any other mode of making the same preserve. Rinse in fresh water in the morning, AT J AAR. LEMBTJES SAUCE AND COMPYT Feb. parboil, putting the peel into water that is boiling; drain but don’t squeeze. ’ To 5 lbs. sugar add 6 lbs. fruit, while it is still hot and let It simmer for about half-an-hour after the sugar is melted. Let it stand for a night, and preserve next day If the syrup seems too little, add a little more syrup made by mixing equal parts of sugar and water, then preserve till the -fruit IS clear and the syrup nice and thick. To know when done, test it as you did the last recipe. Red Cabbage Pickle (Atjaar).— Cut the cabbage into strips, removing the hard stems, sprinkle salt over it and leave until the next day, then drain and lay open on a cloth to dry. ^ When all the moisture has disappeared, put It into sufficient boiling vinegar and allow to boil for a minute or two, adding a few small pickle onions, some red chillies, and some allspice. When cold, bottle and cork well. Limes Sauce (Lemetjes Sauce). — Take 50 limes, cut a cross at one end, but not deeply enough to separate them into pieces. Put on them \ lb. of salt in a deep jar or bowl, pour on them 6 bottles of good colourless vinegar, let them stand a month, stirring them occasionally with a wooden spoon. When settled, bottle the clear liquor, and the thick liquor when filtered ; the limes can be used for flavouring soups, pie-meat, or any savoury dish. The best vinegar for the above is acetic acid, which makes common-strength vinegar by mixing one part to six parts of water. To Preserve Limes (Lemetjes Comfyt).— Pare the limes very thinly and lay them in fresh cold water for three days. Then take them out of the water, cut a cross at one end of each hme, put them in a preserving pan with cold water, and set them to boil until they can be easily pierced Feb. MELON AND GREEN PIG PRESERVES