Hilda's diary of a Cape housekeeper

wine-glass of Van der Hum poured over. MEDLAR JELLY. CITRON PRESERVE May Medlar JeUy. — For medlar jelly there is a good recipe from Swellendam, in Hilda’s Where is it^ p. 122. Lady Adela Goff’s Medlar Jelly. — Another recipe for medlar jelly, very similar to the above, is Lady Adela Goff’s, but as it varies in some particulars I copy it here, as the medlar jelly made at Hale Park is, I am told, most excellent, and very similar to guava jelly. When the medlars are quite ripe put them into a preserving-pan with as much cold water as will cover them, simmer slowly till they become a pulp — if this is not attended to the whole thing is spoilt — strain through a bag, and to a pint of liquor add f lb. loaf sugar. Boil this about an hour. When cold it will be stiff. Skim the top, but do not stir it after it begins to boil, and have a good fire that it may boil fast. May 4. — Mrs. Breda’s Citron Preserve. — Citrons preserved in the following way make a nice dish for dessert now that fresh fruits are scarce. It is Mrs. Breda’s recipe, and is best done in two days. To every half-dozen green citrons you will require their weight in sugar before scraping. Pare or scrape the citrons, using a medium-sized grater, then lay them whole in a deep bowl, and after sprinkling 2 or 3 ozs. of salt over them, cover the citrons with a plate to keep them from rising, and pour into the bowl boiling water sufficient to cover the fruit. The next day halve or quarter the citrons, taking out the pulp carefully (as this being bitter is never used), lay them in your copper preserving-pan, sprinkle a handful of salt over them, and cover them with cold water. Set the pan on the fire to boil till the fruit is soft enough to pierce with a reed or blunt skewer. Then take the pieces of citron out with a spoon, and put them into very cold May FRIENDS TO LUNCHEON water for half-an-hour, after which squeeze them as dry as you can without breaking. Now put your fruit into the preserving-pan and cover with sugar, same weight as the fruit, and measuring the sugar (after being weighed) with a cup, take in proportion 4 cups of water to 6 cups of sugar, let it melt and boil it up slowly, setting aside for next day^ when it should boil— say 4 or 5 hours — till clear and syrup nice and oily. The citron preserve we make can be candied, but we keep it in jars in syrup, and drain it off a few days before we want to use it, roll it in dry sugar, and dry in a cool oven or on a cake-tray in the sun and air. We do the green figs in the same way. May 8. — The T s came to luncheon to-day, but as they had to go back by a train early in the afternoon, we made it a very abbreviated meal, so as not to spend all their visit in the dining-room. Here is the menu : cutlets in paper at one end, an old French colonist’s recipe, and at the other beefsteaks from the under-cut, a recipe given me by Miss Liesching from a good German manuscript recipe-book, stone cream, etc. Cutlets in Paper. — Pare and cut up the cutlets neatly. Soak them in egg and roll them in fine bread-crumbs, to which is added a little grating of nutmeg, pepper and salt. Butter some sheets of cooking paper and fold the cutlet in it, leaving the end of each bone sticking out. Bake in a hot oven in a cutlet-dish, or they may be done in a bakingtin or an enamelled dish two inches deep.