The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

JAMS.— There is a good IL1 old saying that comparisons are odious, and I shall not here enter into the much-debated ques- tion as to whether home-made jam is better than manufactured jam. Perhaps much can be said on both sides. There is one great advantage in home-made jam, that people often fancy what they make them- selves. There is a satisfaction in knowing the process that the fruit has undergone, but there is no doubt that manufacturers of jam on a large scale possess enormous advantage over private individuals. There is something homely in the sound of home-brewed ale, but what housewife can compete in this respect with Messrs. Bass or Allsopp? Of course jam manufactured in limited quantities possesses many advantages, but it is far easier to mix a large quantity than a small. The chemist who mixes up a prescription of a pint will probably carry out the doctor’s instructions to the very letter. If, however, he has to manufacture one pill or ten drops, there is far greater difficulty in being accurate. The chief advantage of manufactured jam over home-made jam is that it is unvarying in taste, colour, and sweetness. Most housekeepers will know that each year their jam varies. They perhaps put in exactly the same quantity of sugar, but owing to the variation of the sweetness 78 CROSSE AND BLACKWELL'S or acidity of the fruit itself in different years, one yeax-’s jam will vary consider- ably from another. The fauit of course j is not the cook’s, who will have put in exactly the same quantity of sugar, j We all know that we can obtain from Messrs. Bass or Allsopp a cask of ale ; which year after year will not vary in the slightest degree in flavour. We get absolutely the saxne. So, too, with Crosse and Blackwell’s jams. The great advantage is that we can thoroughly depend on getting exactly j the same article year by year. It will j I also be noticed how very much these ; jams excel those of every other manu- i facturer in flavour and in colour. 1 J cannot enter into the seci’ets of the manufacture of these jams, but I am under the impression that this perfection of colour is simply owing to its being made in such huge quantities. Where sugar is added by the ton, a degree of ^ certainty can be obtained that cannot be approached when it is added by the ! tablespoonful. It will also be found that the jam supplied by Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell, owing to the per- fection to which it has been brought by boiling, etc., possesses the very valuable quality of keeping longer than home- i made jam. Should any housekeepers doubt this, let them get a pot of Crosse and Blackwell’s jam and place it side by side with one of their own, and let the two stand ; as a rule it will be found that Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell’s will a long way outlast the other in, so to speak, staying power. Of the various jams which are supplied by them, if it be not invidious to speak of one kiixd, I think the best is api’icot. This apricot jam is undoubtedly entitled to rank as a king amongst sweets. It is specially valuable for the purpose of making sweet omelets or to be placed round white puddings, such as cornflour. In addition to this beautiful aixd delicious jam, they supply peach, cherry, pine- apple, raspberry, strawberry, red- currant, damson, black-currant, green- gage, blackberry, plum, and gooseberry jams.