The "A1" cookery book

Seville Orange Marmalade. — Rub the oranges with a clean cloth, do not peel them, but divide them into quarters, slice very thinly with a sharp knife, and take out the pips. To each pound of sliced fruit add one quart of water ; let it stand twenty-four hours. Then boil it until the peel is tender ; let it stand again till next day, then weigh fruit and water together, and to every pound add one and a quarter pounds of loaf sugar. Boil the whole until the sugar jellies and the peel is transparent, about three-quarters of an hour. To four dozen oranges add six lemons. Crab Apple Jelly. — Allow a pint of water to every pound and a half of crab apples, and boil gently till the apples are broken, but not fallen to a pulp. Pass through a jelly-bag, and when the juice is quite transparent weigh it and put it into a preserving pan ; boil quickly for a quarter of an hour, take it off the fire and add the sugar, three parts of a pound to every pound of juice; stir till it is dissolved, and then put it back on the fire and boil fast about twenty minutes. Strain very carefully, and pour into moulds. The crab apples should be rubbed clean, but not peeled or cored. Syrup of Currants or Blackberries. — Slightly warm the fruit and squeeze the juice from it with a wooden spoon, strain it, and set it aside in a basin, and let it stand in a cool place for twenty-four hours ; then pass it gently through a fine hair sieve, using no pressure, and again put it through a jelly-bag rinsed out in hot water, or a cloth. Weigh the juice, and add an equal quantity of loaf sugar broken small ; leave this to dissolve, and then turn the syrup into a preserving pan, and boil gently for five minutes. Skim carefully. Pour the syrup into a basin or jug to get cold, and twelve hours afterwards bottle and cork it. Take care that the bottles are absolutely dry. This syrup makes a good sauce for puddings either hot or cold. Green Gooseberry Paste.— This preserve is much nicer than jam for eating, but not so useful for cooking purposes, so that it is well to make the ordinary kind of gooseberry jam as well as this. Cut the stalks and tops off the fruit and bruise it slightly. Boil till the fruit is quite soft; then rub it through a hair sieve and weigh it, and put it back in the preserving pan with the sugar. Allow three quarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of fruit pulp. Good loaf sugar must be used. Boil for about half an hour, stirring all the time to prevent it burning, and it must be well skimmed. The preserve should set when cold into rather a stiff paste. Rhubarb Jam. — Cut the rhubarb in pieces about an inch long, put it in an earthenware pan, and lay an equal weight of crushed loaf sugar over it, and let it stand twenty-four hours ; then strain all the syrup from the fruit and boil it gently about twenty minutes. Add the pieces of rhubarb and boil until they look clear, and be careful not to boil it too much or it will candy. Green rhubarb looks the prettiest when done.