Twentieth century home cook book

11. The general rules for making jellies may be slated as follows: In making jeUies of apricots, quinces, peaches, apples or plums, peel, remove the stones or cores, cut in pieces, cover with water, and boil gently until well cooked; then strain the juice gently through a jelly bag, and add a half pint of sugar to a pint of juice. For berries, a pound of sugar to a pint of juice; boil until it ropes from the spoon, or from fifteen to twenty minutes. In making raspberry jelly use one-third currants and two-thirds raspberries. 12. To keep jellies from molding : Pulverize loaf sugar as fine as flour if possible, and cover the surface of the jelly with this to the depth of one-fourth of an inch. This will prevent mold, even if the jellies are kept for years. By the rules we have given, jelly may be made of any of the fruits, but some fruits require strong pressure. In fact, the jelly bag may always be profitably twisted by means • of a stick in the hands of two persons, the stick having been entangled in the end of the jelly bag. Currant Jelly Without Cooking.— Press the juice from the currants, and strain it; to every pint put a pound of fine white sugar ; mix them together until the sugar is dissolved; then put it into jars; seal them and expose them to a hot sun for two or three days. Crab- Apple Jelly. — Select fresh, sound fruit, not more than fully ripe. Place one gallon of the fruit in an earthen or porcelain kettle and add one pint of water. Heat slowly until it boils. Continue to cook slowly until the fruit begins to come to pieces, then turn off the juice immediately, pressing the fruit gently back in the kettle as long as the liquor will run off clear. Then strain twice through a fine cloth strainer. Add one pound of the best white sugar for every pound of the juice. Boil ten or fifteen minutes. Skim carefully while boiling. Grape Jelly. — Grapes for jelly should be used before they are ripe, or when just turning. Stem the grapes and slightly cook them ; then strain and use a pint of sugar to a pint of juice. It makes the jelly of a light-red color, and much finer flavored than ripe grapes. Pig Jelly. — Wash the figs, and add water enough to cover the fruit. Boil twenty minutes, strain, then add sugar, and boil ten to twenty minutes. XI. Syrups. Syrups are used principally for their medicinal qualities. Blackberry and elderberry are generally used, but all fruits have more or less cooling, anti-febrile qualities. The directions here given will apply as well to any other berries of which the extract can be gotten, as to blackberries. PRESERVING, DRYING AND CANNING FRUIT. 61 Blackberry Syrup. — Make a simple syrup of a pound of sugar to each pint of water, and boil it until it is rich and thick. Then add to it as many pints of the expressed juice of ripe blackberries as there are pounds of sugar; put half a nutmeg, grated, to each quart of syrup; let it boil fifteen or twenty minutes; then add to it half a gill of fourth-proof brandy for each quart of syrup; set it by to become cold, then bottle it for use. A tablespoonful for a child, or a wineglassful for an adult, is a dose. XII. Drying Fruits. Fruits are dried in four ways : 1. By slicing thin, and exposing the natural fruit, spread on cloth or frames of silvered wire to the heat of the sun, taking them under cover in the event of rain, and at night. When dry they are placed loosely in paper bags and hung in a dry place. 2. The fruit is cured after slicing by being kept in a wai*m oven until dry. 3. They are cooked sufficiently to make them soft and then dried by fire heat. 4. They are also dried in dry-houses, more or less simple, by continuous fire heat. This plan is altogether the most economical when a considerable quantity is dried each year. In all fruit neighborhoods these houses may be found where the fruit is dried either on shares or at a given price per pound.