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

in England than they are. There is much said about the national vice, but what choice has a poor man on a hot day between a glass of beer and nothing? Drinking fountains are few and far between, and often in hot weather there is a craving, not necessarily for a stimulant, yet for something more than water. In summer ginger-beer is tepid and goes chiefly to the nose. Lemonade so called is sickly, and yet these are the only two beverages known beyond the glass of beer, which contains just sufficient salt to make the poor man quickly crave for another. Were it possible in summer time to get every grocer in England to sell iced water and syrup at one penny a glass, more would be done to stop drunkenness than all the efforts of the Blue Ribbon Army and the teetotal societies have ever yet accomplished. In France these fruit syrups are to be met with in every restaurant in every village. In still warmer climates there is the glass of sherbet always to be obtained. In every restaurant in New York the waiter brings you, even for breakfast, the glass of iced water as a matter of course, without being asked for it. Were syrups more universally sold, though confirmed drinkers might not take to them, the effect on the rising generation would be enormous. Prevention is better than cure. I remember some years back noticing the fact that the lads employed in the late training quarters of Count Lagrange at Newmarket (Jennings’s), who at Newmarket always drank beer, in Paris took groseille and water, and preferred the latter. A list of the various syrups to be obtained is given under the heading of Syrups, various. APRICOTS, BOTTLED. — Bottled apricots are used for making plain tarts, j The liquor in which they are bottled is I not sweetened, and should be added to the fruit in the pie after it has been sweetened. Bottled apricots can be mashed up, and the pulp used for a variety of purposes. The pulp will, as a rule, require sweetening. Under the heading Apricots in Syrup will be found a number of receipts in which bottled apricots can be equally well used. The question of how sweet any dish should be is purely one of taste. Many persons object to too much sugar, and some, on medical grounds, object to any. Bottled apricots are not so sweet as those preserved in other ways. APRICOTS, CRYSTALLISED. — These are one of the nicest of crystallised fruits for dessert. In preparing a dish of assorted fruits for dessert care should be taken to arrange the fruits so that the variety of colour gives the dish a nice appearance. For this purpose, green, in the shape of crystallised almonds, greengages, etc., should preponderate, and be placed round the base. APRICOTS IN JUICE. — Apricots preserved in juice are something between apricots bottled and apricots in syrup. They are not too sweet for the purpose of tarts, still are better adapted for open tarts than for closed ones. They can be used for all the purposes mentioned in Apricots in Syrup, which is probably the most useful form in which apricots are preserved whole.